Kerala High Court extends term of judicial members of Kerala Administrative Tribunal [READ ORDER]

The Kerala High Court has passed an interim order extending the term of the present judicial members of the Kerala Administrative Tribunal (KAT) in view of the fact that impending retirement of such judicial members would have led to the KAT functioning with a sole administrative member from July 20 (Kerala Administrative tribunal Ernakulam Advocates' Association Vs. Union of India). .A Division Bench of Justices A Muhamed Mustaque and Kauser Edappagath allowed extension until the appointment of a new chairperson for KAT or till the replacement of current judicial members by new members, whichever is earlier. The extension would also be subject to such judicial member attaining the age of 65 years, the Court added. "It is common knowledge that a Tribunal dealing with service matters cannot function without sufficient number of members. We cannot remain oblivious to the plight of the litigants also. If the present situation is allowed to continue, it will result in collapse of justice delivery system," the Court observed in its order..The office of the chairman of KAT has been vacant since September 15, 2020. The recommendation to appoint a new chairman is still pending with the Central government. The Court had earlier given the Centre several extensions to fill the position but the proceedings are still underway.The term of the present judicial members is set to expire on July 19, 2021. On expiry of the term of the present judicial members, the tribunal would have had to function with a single administrative member without any judicial members from July 20. .This had prompted two bar associations, Kerala Administrative Tribunal Ernakulam Advocates Association and Kerala Administrative Tribunal Advocates' Association, Thiruvananthapuram along with two lawyers, Vazhuthacadu Narendran and RK Muralidharan to move the High Court seeking appointment of chairperson and extension of term of judicial members. Senior Advocate Ranjith Thampan, appearing for KAT Advocates Association, Thiruvananthapuram pressed for an interim order to permit the present judicial members to continue to hold their office subject to the upper ceiling age of 65 years as prescribed under Section 8(2) of the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985. .He contended that since the present judicial members are first term appointees, there is no legal bar in further extending the term as provided under Section 8(2) of said Act..Further, he pointed out that the the present stalemate is due to the delay in appointment of the chairperson as it is the chairperson who is vested with the power under Rule 10 to seek extension of the term of the present members in accordance with the provisions of the Act..The Assistant Solicitor General, representing the Central government, submitted that the delay in appointing the chairperson was only due to administrative exigencies exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic situation. However, he admitted that in the absence of the chairperson and judicial members, the litigants may find it difficult to redress their grievances. .The Court rebuked both the Centre and the State for not appointing the chairperson and delaying the process of choosing judicial members as the present stalemate could have been avoided altogether if they had filled the roles in times. .The Court opined that failure to act in such a situation would result in failure of justice delivery system.It noted that the strength of the KAT was increased from 2 to 6 due to the fact that a large number of cases are being filed before it. Further, Rule 4 of the Administrative Tribunals (Procedure for Appointment of Members) Rules, 2011 envisage making appointment in advance, in anticipated vacancies. Rule 10 also empowers the chairperson to seek extension of the terms of present members, the Court noted. Since such extension is in contemplation of the statutory rule itself, the Court decided that the need of the hour was to uphold the very spirit and essence of the statute and not to denounce the same citing that it is powerless to act in such a situation. It therefore passed the interim order allowing the extension of the terms of the current judicial members of the KAT until a chairman is appointed or till new members are appointed. "We direct the present Judicial Members of KAT to continue on the following conditions: i. The continuation of the further term of the present Judicial Members is till the appointment of the Chairman or till replacement of them by new members, whichever is earlier. ii. The present members will hold the office only upto the age of 65 years.".[Read Order]