"Return with the appointment letters. "We are a democratic country. You have to follow the rule of law," Chief Justice NV Ramana said during the hearing.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday slammed the Centre for 'cherry picking names' for appointments to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) and Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT).
The Court gave it two-weeks time for appointments and said it may initiate a case of contempt against central officials if appointments from the recommended list are not done any time soon.
"Return with the appointment letters. "We are a democratic country. You have to follow the rule of law," Chief Justice NV Ramana said during the hearing.
"I have seen the NCLT (National Company Law Tribunal) appointments.... more recommendations were made. But in (the) appointments, cherry picking was done. What kind of selection is this? And the same thing (has been) done with (the) ITAT (Income Tax Appellate Tribunal) members also. We are very unhappy with how the decisions are being taken," the Chief Justice said.
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"I am also part of the NCLT Selection Committee. We interviewed 544 people... out of which we gave the names of 11 judicial members and 10 technical members. From all of these recommendations, only some of them were appointed by the government... rest of the names went to (the) wait list," he added.
Headed by various Supreme Court judges, candidates are shortlisted for appointment at Search and Selection Committees (SCSCs) and then send it to the government for clearance.
The Supreme Court, earlier on Monday had come down heavily upon the Centre over its failure in filling vacancies in tribunals across the country despite multiple orders from the Court to that effect.
The Supreme Court had then given the Centre a final time of 7 days to either make the appointments or leave the matter in the hands of the Supreme Court to pass orders.
The Court was hearing a batch of petitions highlighting the vacancies in various tribunals besides challenging the Tribunal Reforms Act, 2021 laying down the tenures and other service conditions of tribunal members.
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