A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court against excluding Advocates from the post of Presiding Officer of Debt Recovery Tribunal, Debt Recovery Appellate Tribunal.
The petition, filed by Debt Recovery Tribunal Bar Association through Advocate Viresh Saharya, challenged the Tribunal, Appellate Tribunal and other Authorities (Qualifications, Experience and other Conditions of Service of Members) Amendment Rules, 2021 to the extent that it excluded Advocates from applying for the post of presiding officer in Debt Recovery Tribunals and Debt Recovery Appellate Tribunal.
The rules are illegal and arbitrary, since they allow the advocates to be appointed as judicial members, presiding officer/chairman for nine tribunals and appellate tribunals, alleged the petition.
It further alleged that the Centre, based on these rules, has issued an advertisement in July, 2021, inviting applications for the post of presiding officer for Debt Recovery Tribunals all over India excluding advocates, which is completely contrary to Supreme Court judgement.
On Monday, a Bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and Aniruddha Bose issued notice to the Central government, but refused to grant any interim relief.
Senior Counsel Rakesh Kumar Khanna, appearing for the petitioner, sought interim direction to allow lawyers to apply for the same.