Gujarat High Court seeks State government response in PIL for appointments to RERA Appellate Tribunal

The Gujarat High Court has sought the State government's response in a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking the appointment of Chairperson and technical members to the Gujarat Real Estate Appellate Tribunal [Nipun Praveen Singhvi v State of Gujrat]..A Bench of Chief Justice Aravind Kumar and Justice Ashutosh J Shastri passed the order in the plea which also challenged the the constitution of the Tribunal and sought creation of a website for the same. .As per the PIL filed by Advocate Nipun Singhvi, the post of Chairperson has been vacant since June 2021, and that of technical member has been vacant since September 2021. "Due to non-appointment on the vacant post in the appellate Tribunal has jeopardized and curtailed the right to appeal of the litigants as no appeal could be preferred or adjudicated before the appellate Tribunal because of Coram Non Judice," the petition explains. .Further, it stated that not appointing a Chairperson, technical or administrative member with knowledge and expertise in the particular subject impaired the efficiency and effectiveness of adjudication."It is necessary that those who adjudicate upon these matters should have apart from legal expertise should also have technical knowledge of the subject, therefore, in the bench of the Real Estate Appellate Tribunal, the technical member or the administrative member along with Chairperson should be appointed.".Reliance was placed on the Real Estate (Regulation & Development) Act, which lays down that each bench of the appellate tribunal must have at least one judicial member and one administrative or technical member..Additionally, it was emphasised that every ‘public authority’ was required to have a website for accountability, transparency and administrative purposes, to enable access to the public."However, at present there is no independent website of the appellate tribunal which creates a hurdle in the access/administration of justice," reads the petition..The petitioner also sought a direction for the operations of the Appellate Tribunal to be placed under the supervision of the Gujarat government's legal department, rather than the urban development and urban housing department..Advocates Vishal J Dave and Hiral U Mehta appeared for the applicant, while the respondent was represented by AGP Chintan Dave..[Read Order]