The Delhi High Court has directed Central Government to ensure no unnecessary delays in filling up of vacancies in Customs Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal(CESTAT).
The Court has also issued notice to Central Government and will keep the Court apprised, by way of affidavit, by the next date of hearing as to the steps taken to fill up the posts of President and Vice President of the CESTAT.
The Court was hearing a petition filed by M/s Simplex Infrastructures Ltd challenging an order dated 29th April, 2016 passed by the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, Government of India authorizing the Member (Judicial), Customs, Central Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal („CESTAT‟) to prepare rosters for re-assigning the bench matters to the Members beyond 29th April, 2016 “till the joining of new President CESTAT or until further orders, for smooth functioning of the tribunal.”
The Court finds that under Section 161 of the Act, there is a general power to the Central Government to act if any difficulty arises in giving effect to the provisions of the Act. The Government may, by general or special order, issue directions not inconsistent with the provisions of the Act when it appears to be necessary or expedient for the purpose of removing the difficulty.
The then President CESTAT retired on 3rd March, 2016. Thereafter the Vice President prepared the rosters of the benches till 29th April, 2016 after which there has been no Vice President of the CESTAT either. It is in the above peculiar circumstances, to prevent work coming to a standstill that the Central Government considered it necessary to authorize the Member (Judicial) to prepare the rosters.
While the Court appreciates the necessity for taking the above step, at the same time, the Court is concerned that since more than two months now no President of the CESTAT has been appointed. In the meanwhile, even the post of the Vice President has fallen vacant. The impugned order can at best be treated as temporary arrangement for a certain period and cannot continue indefinitely.
A division bench comprising of Justice S. Muralidhar and Justice Vibhu Bakhru observed that, ensure that there is no unnecessary delay in the filling up of the posts of the President and Vice President of the CESTAT, which as is known, has a large pendency of matters.
The Court is posted the matter on 30th May 2016.
Read the order here.
[googleapps domain=”drive” dir=”file/d/0B3j3oXdY53gVdmJSUHdXYVk0em8/preview” query=”” width=”640″ height=”480″ /]
