Supreme Court Issues Notice In Plea Seeking Expeditious Filling Of Vacancies At PMLA Appellate Tribunal

The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice in a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking for directions to expeditiously fill the long-standing vacancies at the Appellate Tribunal, Prevention of Money Laundering Act (ATPMLA). A Bench comprising of Justices Ashok Bhushan, R. Subhash Reddy and MR Shah, heard the matter and recorded that the vacancies were causing "immense hardship". Accordingly, notice has been issued, returnable in four weeks. The Petitioner has been permitted to serve a copy of the plea to the office of the Solicitor-General. The petition has been filed by Advocate-Activist Amit Sahni, through Advocate Preeti Singh, stating that the ATPMLA, which deals with sensitive and crucial matters pertaining to PMLA, NDPS Act, FEMA, SAFEMA, etc., is struggling to dispense justice, particularly in absence of its Chairman and three members out of sanctioned strength of four, and acute shortage of administrative staff. It is submitted that one Member-post at the Tribunal fell vacant in 2018, and the tenure of the Chairman and two members expired in 2019 and since then, the ATPMLA has been constrained to function with its sole member. So far as administrative staff is concerned, the plea points out: 2 Registrar posts are vacant since 2016 and 2020 2 Sr. Private Secretary posts are vacant since 2008 3 Private Secretary posts are vacant since 2016 3 Steno posts are vacant since 2016 1 Superintendent post is vacant since 2016 1 Assistant post is vacant since 2016 Court Master's post is vacant since 2016 UDC vacancies are unfilled since 2019 LDC vacancies are unfilled since 2019 totaling to 23 vacant posts as on date. "The very object for constituting Tribunals is to supplement the functions of the High Courts and the other Courts and to ensure that the consumer of justice gets speedy redressal to his grievances. Due to a large number of unfilled vacancies hampering the progress of the functioning of the Tribunal. Therefore, there is imminent need for expediting the process of selections and appointments to ensure speedy justice," the petition thus states. Reliance is placed on Madras Bar Association v. Union of India & Anr., where the Supreme Court directed the Central Government to constitute a National Tribunal Commission for the appointment of members in various Tribunals. The petition further avers that Sahni had filed several RTI Applications, seeking information regarding vacancies at the Tribunal, which revealed that apart from post of Chairman, three out of four members are not appointed. Further, there are certain vacancies since 2016 and few posts are vacant since 2008. He also made a representation to the Government for expeditious filling of vacancies at Tribunal but no step has been taken by the government upon the same till date. "The ATPMLA has been crying for attention since long but the Government has failed to take adequate and appropriate steps," Sahni said. [Note: The ATPMLA consists of a Chairman (a retired Judge of the Supreme Court or a High Court) and Four Members (who can be from the fields of Law, Finance and Management)]Click Here To Download Order[Read Order]

Supreme Court Issues Notice In Plea Seeking Expeditious Filling Of Vacancies At PMLA Appellate Tribunal

Radhika Roy

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