”Weakening” the Tribunals

Tribunals , most of them, continuing to be without presiding officers and other staff, was in fact tantamount to emasculating them in the opinion of the Bench of the Supreme Court which has viewed it seriously by sayingthat the Centre was “testing our patience” while declaring having no intention of any confrontation with the Government either. Referring to the current status of the Tribunals, the Bench observed “They are collapsing” . There were as many as 250 posts lying vacant at various key Tribunals which otherwise are critical for the economy of the country in many ways. Due to the staff crunch, especially of the Presiding Officers, these quasi judicial bodies were facing lot of problems in their functioning. Earlier also , the Court had taken a serious view of keeping the Tribunals in such a position without the said appointments that the Government had to decide whether ” it wanted Tribunals or not”. Centre in consultation with Union Law Ministry should expedite the process for appointment of Presiding Officers of Tribunal as making them functional is in interest of democracy.