Government Appoints Presiding Officers for 11 DRTs
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New Delhi, Dec 23 (NationPress) The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Presiding Officers in 11 Debts Recovery Tribunals (DRTs).
These appointments, based on recommendations from the Department of Financial Services, will last for a term of four years or until the individuals reach the age of 70, whichever occurs first.
According to the announcement from the Department of Personnel & Training, Chandrashekhar U and SV Gowramma will oversee DRT-2 and DRT-3 in Chennai, respectively. N Somasundaar will take charge of the Coimbatore DRT, while T Rajesh is assigned to DRT-2 in Bengaluru.
Jhamman Ram Chauhan will preside over the Aurangabad DRT, and Sreekala Suresh alongside Harish Kumar Kaushik will lead DRT-1 and DRT-2 in Mumbai, respectively. Pankaj Kumar Upadhyay will head DRT-2 in Ahmedabad, Pravas Kumar Singh is assigned to Lucknow DRT, Vimal Gupta will oversee Jaipur DRT, and Vinod Kumar Srivastava will take charge of Ranchi DRT, as detailed in the notification.
Recently, a panel led by CJI Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar of the Supreme Court acknowledged a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) urging the Centre to address vacancies in the DRTs nationwide.
The CJI-led Bench requested a response from the Central Government within five weeks, noting that the selection process began in September 2023, followed by interviews in May 2024, yet 11 DRTs remain without leadership.
"The respondent (Union government) will submit a counter affidavit within five weeks from the notice service date. Any rejoinder must be filed within three weeks of the counter-affidavit service," the Supreme Court instructed on November 18.
According to the PIL, nearly one-third of the 39 Debts Recovery Tribunals across the nation, specifically 11 DRTs, had vacancies as of September 30, 2024.
A circular was circulated as early as September last year indicating potential vacancies in 2023-2024, yet no appointments have been finalized to date, the petition highlighted.
It expressed concern that no proactive measures have been initiated to commence the selection process for the expected vacancies, risking more DRTs becoming non-functional in the future.
"The primary aim of establishing DRTs, as outlined in the preamble to the Recovery of Debts and Bankruptcy Act, 1993 (RDB Act), is to provide swift adjudication and recovery of debts owed to banks and financial institutions. This objective is compromised if DRTs operate without Presiding Officers," stated the petition filed through advocate Sudarshan Rajan.
The petition further criticized the Centre for assigning additional responsibilities of vacant DRTs to those in neighboring states, causing logistical challenges for lawyers and slowing down the case disposal rate.
It mentioned that due to the extra responsibilities assigned to such DRTs, only urgent matters are being handled, leaving normal cases unattended, thereby increasing case backlog. The RDB Act specifies a timeframe of 60 to 180 days for handling cases, yet many DRTs remain inactive due to the absence of appointed Presiding Officers beyond this stipulated period.
The PIL requested the Centre to take immediate action to fill the vacancies in the DRTs nationwide, arguing that the failure to address these vacancies infringes upon both constitutional and statutory provisions.
