Plea in Kerala High Court to ensure judicial member post in RERA Appellate Tribunal does not fall vacant

A petition has been filed before the Kerala High Court urging it to order the appointment of a new judicial member to the Kerala Real Estate Appellate Tribunal (RERA appellate tribunal) in view of the impending retirement of present judicial member, VK Babu Prakash on May 27 [Social Justice Vigilance Forum v State of Kerala & Ors]..The petition filed by a registered society, the Social Justice Vigilance Forum, raises concern that the State government has not issued any notification to retain Prakash as the judicial member after his retirement until a new appointment is made. The reason cited for this is the ongoing election season and the Model Code of Conduct (MCC). However, the petitioner-society points out that the election process has already concluded in Kerala. Therefore, it has also urged the High Court to direct the State to notify that VK Babu Prakash would continue as the judicial member of the RERA appellate tribunal until the process of selecting a new judicial member is completed. Justices TR Ravi and Harisankar V Menon today heard the public interest litigation (PIL) petition and asked the government pleader to get instructions on the matter from the State government. The case will be heard next on May 21..The RERA appellate tribunal - established under the Real Estate (Regulations and Development) Act (Act) of 2016 - deals with real estate disputes, particularly appeals challenging decisions of the RERA Authority in each State. According to Section 45 of the 2016 Act, the appellate tribunal should comprise a Chairperson and a minimum of two members - a judicial member and an administrative or technical Member.In 2020, Justice P Ubaid, a retired High Court judge, was appointed as the Chairperson of the appellate tribunal, while retired district judge, VK Babu Prakash and retired additional chief secretary, James Varghese were appointed as the judicial and technical members, respectively.The petitioner-society recounted that when James Varghese vacated from his post as a technical member, there was an inordinate delay in filling up the said vacancy. As a result, the tribunal was forced to function with only the Chairperson and judicial member for a long time before a new technical member was appointed.Now, the judicial member of the tribunal is also slated to retire from his post on May 27 when he becomes 65 years of age (retirement age), leaving the post vacant from May 28 onwards. In this context, the petitioner-society has raised concern that when Prakash retires on May 27, a new judicial member is unlikely to be appointed soon. This could hamper the tribunal's functioning and cause public inconvenience, the petitioner contended. .The petitioner added that this issue was flagged to the State. However, it did not take prompt steps to appoint a new judicial member and has only initiated the selection process.It was further submitted that the petitioner has learnt that the State plans to retain Prakash as the judicial member after his retirement until a new appointment is made. However, no orders have been issued for this due to concerns that it may violate the MCC in force during the election season. The petitioner, however, pointed out that the MCC need not be an obstacle for the State since the polls in Kerala concluded on April 26. .The petitioner has thus approached the Kerala High Court seeking directions to the State government to pass orders to temporarily retain Prakash as the judicial member of the RERA appellate tribunal until a new appointment is made.Further, the society has urged the Court to direct the State to fill the judicial member vacancy that will arise in the appellate tribunal on May 28 as soon as possible. .The petitioner-society was represented by advocates M R Nandakumar, Mayika Sundar, Arjun Anil, Asin VS, and Anna Maria.