Supreme Court extends tenure of judicial members of Karnataka State Administrative Tribunal till further orders

The Supreme Court on Monday passed an interim order extending the tenures of incumbent judicial members of the Karnataka State Administrative Tribunal (KSAT) [Krishna B and Ors v. GOI]. .The order was passed by the apex court in exercise of its powers under Article 142 of the Indian Constitution, and will be subject to such members giving their consent for extension. "Pending further orders and subject to the incumbents agreeing to continue in office, we direct in exercise of the jurisdiction under Article 142 of the Constitution that the existing Judicial Members shall continue to function till fresh appointments are made and the incumbents take over" the judges stated, and posted the matter next on October 31. .A Bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Hima Kohli was hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking filling up of judicial member vacancies at the Tribunal.Advocate Rajesh Mahale, appearing for the petitioner, told the Court that by October 15, the Tribunal will have two vacancies, leaving only one judicial member to shoulder the entire workload.The petition has been listed for further hearing in two weeks..On September 23, the same Bench had extended the tenures of one judicial and one administrative member of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) Kolkata Bench, upon noting that only one judicial member was appointed against a sanctioned strength of two administrative and two judicial members.The order was passed considering that the sitting members were holding office by virtue of tenure extensions by the Court, which were due to expire on September 29, and that three states would be affected if the CAT Bench became dysfunctional.During the course of that hearing, Additional Solicitor General Balbir Singh had informed the Court that the proposal for appointment of 17 administrative members of tribunals across the country was submitted to the Appointments Committee of the Union Cabinet, approval for which was expected in two weeks..[Read order]