SC seeks Centre’s response on plea seeking filling of vacancies in Armed Forces Tribunal

The Supreme Court of India sought Centre’s response on filling vacancies in the Armed Forces Tribunal. The plea warns most benches may become non-functional, urging time-bound appointments and interim continuance of existing members to ensure judicial functioning

New Delhi: Taking note of vacancies in the Armed Forces Tribunal, the Supreme Court on Monday sought responses from the Centre and others on a plea seeking to complete the process of selection and fill the vacant posts in a time-bound manner.

While agreeing to hear the petition, a bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi asked Attorney General R Venkataramani to assist it in the matter.

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The bench told the counsel appearing for the petitioner — Armed Forces Tribunal Bar Association (Regional Bench) — to hand over the petition to the office of the attorney general.

The bench posted the matter for hearing after two weeks.

The advocate appearing for the petitioner said out of the 11 benches of the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT), only three would be functional by the end of the year if the vacancies were not filled.

The plea sought a direction to the Centre to complete the process of selection and fill the vacancies in the AFT in a time-bound manner so as to comply with Section 5 of the Armed Forces Tribunal Act, 2007.

Section 5 of the Act deals with the composition of the tribunal and its benches.

The petition has also sought a direction that the present judicial and administrative members of the tribunal shall continue to remain in office, subject to their consent for continuance, till such time the necessary appointments are made.