In recent days, the Supreme Court has voiced concerns over a large number of vacancies in High Courts and tribunals.
What are the Court’s observations?
Chief Justice of India confronted the Government with a list of 240 vacancies in various tribunals.
Many tribunals lack presiding officers, and recommendations made by selection committees have not been acted upon.
The vacancies in High Courts are at a staggering 455, as on 1st August, 2021.
Even after the Court orders fixing time-frames for the Intelligence Bureau and the Government to process names forwarded by the Collegium, the centre has not acted on it.
This is adversely affecting the adjudication of commercial disputes.
What are the concerns?
The jurisdiction previously exercised by High Courts is now being exercised by the tribunals.
But the government seems to be undermining their independence by repeatedly framing rules that seek to provide for greater executive control over the tribunals.
Also, tribunals were created for specialization, domain expertise and relatively quicker adjudication.
These purposes of the tribunals are lost if these bodies have a large number of vacancies.
The Union government is also reluctant to create a national body for overseeing the appointment of members on tribunals as well as their appraisals.
