Bhuvana Iyer – Mumbai Uncensored, 21st February 2022
The Central government has approved the appointment of five chairpersons to the Debt Recovery Appellate Tribunals (DRATs) in the country after the Supreme Court expressed its displeasure at the Centre taking such vacancies too lightly.
The Central Government has approved the appointment of five Debt Recovery Appellate Tribunals as chairpersons. The Appointments Committee of the Union Cabinet approved the proposal of the Department of Financial Services to appoint him as the chairpersons of DRAT.
The committee has appointed former Delhi High Court judge Justice Brijesh Sethi as the chairperson of DRAT Delhi.
DRAT Mumbai will be headed by Justice Ashok Menon, former judge of the Kerala High Court.
As chairperson of DRAT Kolkata, Justice Anil Kumar Srivastava, former judge of Allahabad High Court, has been appointed.
Apart from this, the chairperson of DRAT Chennai will be Justice S. Ravi Kumar, former chairman of DRAT Mumbai and former Judge of Andhra Pradesh High Court.
Also, Justice Rajesh Dayal Khare, former judge of Allahabad High Court, has been made the chairperson of DRAT Allahabad.
Earlier, the Supreme Court observed that the government is not serious about appointments in the authority, and is taking the issue very lightly.
It is pertinent to note that recently , the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court had also expressed strong displeasure at the Central government over the non-appointment of presiding officers in various debt recovery tribunals and debt recovery appellate tribunals for a long time.
The High Court had sought a response from the Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Government of India on what is preventing the Government from appointing Presiding Officers/Chairmen in DRTs/DRATs, which are vacant for several months in the country.
