The Supreme Court on March 20, 2018 [Read order] clarified its earlier order dated Feb 9, 2018 in the case of Kudrat Sandhu v/s Union of India that accepted suggestions made by the Central Administrative Tribunal Board Association with regard to appointment of chairpersons and judicial/ administrative/ technical/ expert members for all tribunals.
The Bench comprising of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice AK Khanwilkar and Justice DY Chandrachud clarified that the selection process that has commenced shall continue and no litigation in that regard shall be entertained. Further that any other grievance in this regard shall be dealt with at the time of final hearing of the main case.
The SC clarified the following:
(i) The appointment of the Chairpersons of the Tribunals shall be made by the Central Government in consultation with the Chief Justice of India;
(ii) The Search-cum-Selection Committee (SCSC) for the appointment of Judicial Members of the Central Administrative Tribunal shall also proceed with the selection of Administrative Members;
(iii) The tenure of the Chairperson and the Judicial/Administrative/Expert/Technical Members of all the Tribunals shall be for a period of five years or the maximum age that was fixed/determined under the old Acts and Rules;
(iv) The Committee that has been constituted for selection of the Members of the Central Government Industrial Tribunal shall proceed as per our previous order as it has already proceeded with its work.
With respect to the Appellate Board under the Trademarks Act, 1999 (i.e. IPAB), the Attorney General had provided the following details which are recorded in the order dated Feb 22, 2018.
| Tribunal/
Appellate Tribunal and Other Authorities |
Existing
Vacancy |
Whether
SCSC constitute under New Rules. If yes, its composition |
Status of
selection process |
Total
Numbers of applications as received |
Interviews
Conducted + Selection made / Final Appointment |
| Appellate Board
Under Trade Marks Act |
01 vacancy
for post of Vice Chairman, 01 vacancy for post of Technical Member (Trade Mark), 01 vacancy for post of Technical Member (Patent) and 02 vacancies for post of Technical Member (Copy right) |
SCSC Not yet
constituted. |
Vacancies
advertised in November, 2017 |
09
applications received for post of Vice Chairman, 14 applications receiver for post of Technical Member (Trade Mark), 17 applications received for Technical Member (Patent) and 15 applications received for Technical Member (Copy right) |
NO
|
In view of the Supreme Court clarifying that the selection process that has commenced shall continue and no litigation in that regard shall be entertained, and any grievance would be taken only at the time of final hearing, it appears that the appointment of Justice Manmohan Singh as the Chairperson of IPAB will remain intact for the moment.
