DRT-III not functioning; Delhi High Court passes status quo order in matter listed for hearing 1 year after notice

The Delhi High Court recently passed a status quo order after it came to the Bench's notice that the Debts Recovery Tribunal (DRT) in the national capital was not functioning optimally [Sourabh Shrivastava and anr v. Union of India and ors]..A Bench of Justices Rajiv Shakdher and Poonam A Bamba took note of the fact that DRT-III, Delhi has not been able to hear matters where urgent relief was sought, as the Presiding Officer was given the post as an additional charge. "Given this position, the writ petition is disposed of with the following directions: (i) The petitioners will present themselves before the Presiding Officer, who holds the additional charge for DRT-III, on 20.04.2022. Till then, the respondents will maintain status quo vis-à-vis the subject property ...(ii) The Presiding Officer of DRT-III (Additional Charge) will pass suitable orders, which would include vacating the status quo order, and/or modifying the same, after the petitioners and the opposite parties are heard in the matter," the order stated.In the instant case, the matter was first moved before the concerned DRT and notice was issued on December 12, 2020, made returnable on April 29, 2021. It had been listed for further hearing on May 10, 2022..Counsel for the petitioners said they were constrained to approach the High Court as the DRT was, in effect, not functioning.Urgent matters where relief was sought are not being heard given the high caseload of the Presiding Officer, the counsel submitted. Counsel for the Central government informed the Bench that although a Presiding Officer has been appointed for DRT-III, he had been given one month's time to take charge.After the petitioner's counsel informed the Court that the district magistrate had not visited the secured asset area or given a date/notice of when they would do the same, the Bench said that an order for expedited hearing will suffice. .Advocate Sumit Sinha appeared for the petitioners. Central Government Standing Counsel Ravi Prakash with Advocates Shruti Shivkumar, Farman Ali and Tana Yasin represented the Central government. .The Appointments Committee of the Union Cabinet had in February this year approved the proposal of the Department of Financial Services for the appointment of 18 Presiding Officers at Debts Recovery Tribunals (DRTs).This was a week after the Central government had approved the appointment of chairpersons to the five Debts Recovery Appellate Tribunals (DRATs), which in turn came a day after the Supreme Court had expressed its displeasure stating that the bureaucracy was taking the issue of tribunal appointments very lightly.The Supreme Court had pulled up the Centre on many occasions due to the alarming situation of burgeoning vacancies at several DRTs and DRATs.The Kerala High Court had noted that both DRTs in the State were not functioning for the last several months, halting the access of litigants to courts and bringing them great misery. Despite that, the Central government has shown scant regard to the hardships of the litigants, the High Court had said..[Read order]