Expressing dismay over the delay in filling up judicial vacancies across the country, the Bombay High Court on Friday asked the Union government when will it think about giving a "booster" for the judiciary.
It also said that if the government wants the country's economy to get a booster, how can it not fill up the vacancies in the tribunals that are supposed to help banks recover financial dues.
"We are talking about boosters these days. Booster vaccines, boosters for the economy. We read somewhere that the current budget is a booster for the nation's economy. But where is booster for the judiciary?" the high court asked.
A bench of high court's Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice M S Karnik made the comments while hearing two writ petitions seeking a direction to the Union government to appoint a chairperson for the Debt Recovery Appellate Tribunal (DRAT) in Mumbai.
The post of the DRAT chairperson and for the presiding officers of several Debt Recovery Tribunals (DRTs) across the state have been lying vacant for some months now. As a result, the bench led by chief justice Datta has been flooded with cases seeking reliefs that would have otherwise gone before the DRTs and the DRAT.
On Friday, the bench took exception to the delay on part of the Union government to fill such vacancies despite previous orders of the court. It noted that it had passed the first such order on filling up the vacancies on December 2, 2021. But the government is yet to even explain what was causing the delay, it said.
"The DRAT is an important institution for a city like Mumbai, which is the financial capital of the country," the HC said.
"If the Union government wants the country's economy to get a booster, how can it not fill up the vacancies in the tribunals that are supposed to help banks recover financial dues?" it asked.
The high court directed the central government to submit a note by next Thursday indicating the "road map" for filling up the DRAT vacancy.
"Please convey the concern of the court to your officers. If by next Thursday we do not get a proper picture, we may have to think otherwise," the high court told the Union's counsel - Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh.
"On the one hand, we want to boost the economy, while on the other we are not letting banks recover money," it said.
The court also remarked orally that the union government must give reasonable consideration to filling up vacancies in the judiciary across the country. PTI AYA NP NP
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
10 Additional Delhi, Bombay High Court Judges Made Permanent Preventive Detention Orders Should Be Passed With Extreme Care: High Court Will Give Land For Bombay High Court Building: Maharashtra To Supreme Court Bangladesh Imposes Curfew, Deploys Military As 105 Die In Protests "Jindal Group Executive Showed Porn, Groped Me On Flight": Woman To NDTV Over 300 Indian Students Return Home As 105 Bangladeshis Killed In Protests Joe Biden Is The Best Person To Take On Trump, Says His Campaign Wife Among Two Jailed For Life For Man's Murder In Gurugram: Cops 1,100 Flights Cancelled In US As Microsoft Outage Disrupts Operations Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.