Retiring members of NCDRC, CAT to continue till April 15: Supreme Court

The tenures of retiring members NCDRC and Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) have been extended till April 15 on ad-hoc basis..A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India, Dipak Misra passed the order recording the submission of Attorney General KK Venugopal to that effect..Venugopal submitted that members retiring between December 2017 and March 2018 could be extended as the appointment process might take some time..The Court agreed to the same and ordered that the tenure shall stand extended till April 15 or till appointment is made, whichever is earlier..The Supreme Court had recently asked the Central government to respond on whether the tenures of adjudicators at the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) and Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) can be extended for three months..A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud posed the question to Attorney General KK Venugopal during the hearing of the petitions challenging various provisions of the Finance Act relating to tribunals..This came after Senior Counsel PS Patwalia submitted that the NCDRC and the CAT are functioning with depleted strength, and that they would be further depleted by end of January, 2018.