Delay in chairman posting to stall administrative tribunal operations

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The functioning of the Kerala Administrative Tribunal has been affected seriously as eight months have passed without a chairman. After the retirement of former chairman T R Ramachandran Nair, there was no move to appoint a new chairman. Currently the tribunal has two judicial members and two administrative members. One of the judicial members, Benny Gervacis, is the acting chairman, but, he is also set to retire in July. Administrative member V Somasundaram will retire on Tuesday while the second judicial member V Rajendran will retire on July 19. If replacements for chairman and members are not speeded up, the functioning of the KAT will come to a halt, fear advocates and clients.

On Monday, KAT Advocates Association (KATAA) has urged the state government to put pressure on the central government to fast-track the appointment of chairman of the Kerala Admini strative Tribunal. The KATAA office-bearers led by former Law Minister M Vijayakumar met chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and handed over a petition, saying that the delay in appointing a chairman was affecting the functioning of the tribunal.

The advocates said that as per protocol chairman should be a member in the committee that elects the judicial and administrative members. If a new chairman is not appointed immediately, then the functioning of the tribunal will come to a halt by this July.

Following the retirement of the previous chairman, the state government has nominated former High Court judge C K Abdul Rehim as the next tribunal chairman and the proposal was ratified by the Supreme Court Chief Justice. However, the central government is yet to take any step to move the file to the President, who i s the appointing authority. The Kerala Administrative Tribunal Advocates Association (KATAA) has urged the state government to put pressure on the central government to fast-track the appointment of chairman of the Kerala Administrative Tribunal. As many as 5,000 cases are filed in a year before the tribunal. In the past few years, the KAT had disposed 6,000 cases on an average per year.

The tribunal, headquartered in the capital and having a bench in Kochi, is a boon to thousands of government employees as their service cases would be heard and settled by an exclusive court. The advocates who signed the petition also included former Thiruvananthapuram Deputy Mayor Vazhuthacaud Narendran, Bar Association President S S Balu Anayara, KAT Association President M Fathahudeen and KAT Secretary Saji S L.