MACT Mumbai Bar Association moves Bombay High Court for filling up of vacancies in the Tribunal

The Bar Association of Motor Accidents Claim Tribunal (MACT), Mumbai has moved Bombay High Court seeking filling of staff and judge vacancies at the tribunal. [The BarAssociation of Motor Accidents Claim Tribunal vs The State of Maharashtra & Ors.].A bench led by Chief Justice Dipankar Datta will hear the matter on December 5, 2022. .The plea, filed through advocate Savina Crasto, underlined that since 2019, out of 8 courtrooms at the tribunal, only 6 have judges presiding over them. It further claimed that out of 124 posts for staff, only 77 are filled, leaving 40% posts vacant."A tribunal functioning at only 60% of its fullest capacity is far from doing any justice to the anxious litigants where there are over 10,000 cases pending...The current state of affairs is not only unjust to the litigants but is also unjust towards the 60% staff who was overburdened," the plea stated.Pertinently, the tribunal has been functioning without a registrar since 2019, the plea said."This has created havoc in the administration of the tribunal, leading to pendency of cases and delay in the disposal of compensation claims," it stated..The petition has highlighted the following difficulties faced by litigants, advocates and judges:1. Papers and proceedings of the matter can not be located when it is listed, resulting in adjournment2. Roznamas are not uploaded on the e-courts portal, are often randomly handwritten3. Applications for certified copies, even on an urgent basis, are pending for weeks at a stretch4. Advocates do not get copies of evidence notes in part-heard matters, leading to delay in completion of arguments5. Court papers lie in courtrooms even after the hearings are over and are collected in a corner like garbage, because of lack of staff6. Judgments are kept pending for months due to inadequacy of stenographers 7. Overburdened staff randomly go on indefinite and untimely strikes, affecting the working of the Court.8. Staff appointed for specific work are forced to handle other profiles, resulting in a crippled judicial system9. Issues with overall infrastructure facilities limit the working of the tribunal..The plea even mentioned that the petitioners had made several representations to the the Guardian Judge, MACT, which were allegedly neglected. "Here it is not the Litigants or any external cause for hindrances in deciding the claims. It is the Respondents who have been too lazy to fulfil their duties. The Respondents have deliberately and intentionally not taken the Petitioner's applications seriously," it said.Therefore, it prayed for directions to the respondents to immediately file their action taken reports on the representations made by the Bar Association and also to fill the vacancies in the Tribunal in a time bound manner, as per applicable rules.