The Supreme Court today extended the tenure of TDSAT Chairman for a further period of three months and directed the government to complete the appointment process of members in the meantime.
The Apex Court today directed for the tenure of the Chairman of Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) Justice Shiva Kirti Singh to be extended for a further period of three months.
The Bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, Sanjay Kishan Kaul, and MR Shah also directed the Central government to ensure that the appointment process for all the members of the Tribunal is completed in the meantime.
The Court said,
"...we are of the view that the tenure of the Chairman and the members of TDSAT be extended for a period of three months during which period the entire process of appointment of the Chairman and members be completed."
Earlier, when the issue of vacancies at the TDSAT was raised before the Supreme Court, the tenure of Justice Singh was extended for a period of three months temporarily with a direction to the government to "expedite" the appointment process.
The Court had in April this year asked how a Tribunal can function without sitting members when it was informed that no technical members in the TDSAT had been appointed since last year.
The vacancy at the Intellectual Property Appellate Board was also flagged by the Court to highlight the issue of vacancies at Tribunals.
Justice Singh who helms the TDSAT currently was scheduled to retire on April 20 but in the absence of any members to man the Tribunal, his tenure was extended for a period of three months. The extension has further been made today for another period of three months now.
The applicants were represented by Senior Counsel Vikas Singh and Advocate Tushar Singh while the Centre was represented by Attorney General KK Veugopal.
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