Central government clears appointment of Presiding Officers to 18 Debt Recovery Tribunals

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the proposal of the Department of Financial Services for the appointment of 18 Presiding Officers in Debt Recovery Tribunals (DRTs)..The following persons have been appointed as the Presiding Officers, in the salary of ₹1,44,200-2,18,200 per month for a period of 4 years or till they attain the age of 70, whichever is earlier..1. DRT JabalpurRam Niwas Patel, Retired District Judge (Madhya Pradesh Judicial Service)2. DRT Hyderabad-1Gummadi Gopichand, Retired District Judge (Andhra Pradesh Judicial Service)3. DRT Chennai-1A.S. Jayachandra, Retired District Judge (Delhi Higher Judicial Service)4. DRT, Chandigarh-1Anand Sagar Narang, Retired District Judge (HCS- Judicial Branch)5. DRT, Delhi-1Basant Kumar Goswami, Retired District Judge (Superior Judicial Service, Jharkhand)6. DRT, Chandigarh-2Man Mohan Dhonchak, Retired District Judge (Judicial Department, Punjab and Haryana High Court.7. DRT, Delhi-2 Rajesh Malhotra, District Judge (Haryana Superior Judicial Service)8. DRT, Cuttack Jitendra Prasad Singh, Retired District Judge (Bihar Judicial Service)9. DRT,GuwahatiShiv Sharan Dubey, Retired Principal and District Sessions Judge (Jharkhand Judicial Service)10. DRT, SiliguriRakesh Pati Tiwari, Retired District Judge (Bihar Judicial Service)11. DRT, Ernakulam-1Su Willyahm, Retired District Judge (Tamil Nadu State Judicial Service)12. DRT, Ahmedabad -1Padam Singh Thakur, Retired District Judge (HP Higher Judicial Service)13. DRT, Hyderabad-2 Dr. Baldev Singh, Registrar (Vigilance), High Court of Himachal Pradesh14. DRT, Mumbai-3 Arun Kumar Singal, District Judge (Haryana Judicial Service)15. DRT, Bengaluru-1Imtiaz Ali, District and Sessions Judge (Assam Judicial Service)16. DRT, MaduraiKuldeep Kumar Kareer, Retired District Judge (Punjab Superior Judicial Service) 17. DRT, VisakhapatnamKrishna Gopal Dwivedi, Retired District Judge (Bihar Judicial Service)18. DRT, Ernakulam-2Sovan Kumar Dash, Retired District Judge (Odisha Judicial Service).Last week, the Central government had approved the appointment of chairpersons to the five Debt Recovery Appellate Tribunals (DRATs). This came a day after the Supreme Court expressed its displeasure stating that the bureaucracy was taking the issue of tribunal appointments very lightly.The Supreme Court had pulled up the Central Government on many occasions due to the alarming situation of burgeoning vacancies at several DRTs and DRATs.The Kerala High Court had earlier this month, noted that both DRTs in the State were not functioning for the last several months halting the access of litigants to courts, bringing them great misery.Despite that, the Central government has shown scant regard to the hardships of the litigants, the High Court had said.