NEW DELHI: Appellate Electricity Tribunal’s technical member and former GAIL CMD Ashutosh Karnatak on Tuesday got a lesson in propriety from the Supreme Court after validating the objection of Sravanthi Energy raising objection to him being part of a bench that decided its appeal against the public sector undertaking.
Appearing for Sravanthi, senior advocate A M Singhvi told a bench of Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justices A S Bopanna and Hima Kohli that this is one of the 10 cases involving GAIL as a party that Karnatak has decided to raise an inescapable question about grave breach of propriety.
The bench lost no time in agreeing with Singhvi and asked, “How can he (Karnatak) hear the matter? It is a question of propriety. He has worked with GAIL for more than three decades. It is a simple case of breach of propriety.” Finding additional solicitor general Sanjay Jain appearing for the PSU, the bench said, “You are the government. If there are vacancies in members and the post of chairman, you appoint them. After they are appointed, such cases should be heard by persons who had no past association with the litigating parties.”
The CJI-led bench had taken serious view of the Centre’s lethargy in filling up of posts in tribunals and told the government to wind them up if they cannot appoint their members, technical members and chairpersons, rendering them non-functional. The CJI had lamented that though the selection panels, each headed by a SC judge, had recommended many names, the government was sitting over them. The process of appointments to tribunals had picked up speed after the CJI-led bench’s outburst last month.
Finding the same problem of vacancy plaguing the work of APTEL, the CJI on Tuesday said the SC judge-headed panel had recommended names for appointment of the chairperson and members to the electricity appellate tribunal, but it seems the appointments have not yet been made.
The bench issued notice to the Centre and attorney general K K Venugopal and asked “let us know when the appointments are being made”.
In September, there was a standoff between the SC and the Centre as the latter asserted the right to reject names recommended by SC judge-led panels for appointments to tribunals. But a bench comprising CJI Ramana and Justices D Y Chandrachud and L N Rao had said that in a democratic country governed by the rule of law under the Constitution, the government cannot say it will not accept these recommendations.
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NEW DELHI: Appellate Electricity Tribunal’s technical member and former GAIL CMD Ashutosh Karnatak on Tuesday got a lesson in propriety from the Supreme Court after validating the objection of Sravanthi Energy raising objection to him being part of a bench that decided its appeal against the public sector undertaking. Appearing for Sravanthi, senior advocate A M Singhvi told a bench of Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justices A S Bopanna and Hima Kohli that this is one of the 10 cases involving GAIL as a party that Karnatak has decided to raise an inescapable question about grave breach of propriety. The bench lost no time in agreeing with Singhvi and asked, “How can he (Karnatak) hear the matter? It is a question of propriety. He has worked with GAIL for more than three decades. It is a simple case of breach of propriety.” Finding additional solicitor general Sanjay Jain appearing for the PSU, the bench said, “You are the government. If there are vacancies in members and the post of chairman, you appoint them. After they are appointed, such cases should be heard by persons who had no past association with the litigating parties.” The CJI-led bench had taken serious view of the Centre’s lethargy in filling up of posts in tribunals and told the government to wind them up if they cannot appoint their members, technical members and chairpersons, rendering them non-functional. The CJI had lamented that though the selection panels, each headed by a SC judge, had recommended many names, the government was sitting over them. The process of appointments to tribunals had picked up speed after the CJI-led bench’s outburst last month. Finding the same problem of vacancy plaguing the work of APTEL, the CJI on Tuesday said the SC judge-headed panel had recommended names for appointment of the chairperson and members to the electricity appellate tribunal, but it seems the appointments have not yet been made. The bench issued notice to the Centre and attorney general K K Venugopal and asked “let us know when the appointments are being made”. In September, there was a standoff between the SC and the Centre as the latter asserted the right to reject names recommended by SC judge-led panels for appointments to tribunals. But a bench comprising CJI Ramana and Justices D Y Chandrachud and L N Rao had said that in a democratic country governed by the rule of law under the Constitution, the government cannot say it will not accept these recommendations. FacebookTwitterLinkedinEMail