Supreme Court Rejects Pleas To Allow APTEL Technical Member To Function Till December 31

The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected pleas to allow the Technical Member of Appellate Tribunal for Electricity(APTEL) to hold office till December 31 so as to enable him to pronounce judgments on matters heard by him along with the APTEL Chairperson.

The date of retirement of APTEL Technical Member, SD Dubey, as per the judgment delivered by the Supreme Court on November 27 this year in the case Madras Bar Association v Union of India is November 8, 2020. The Court had earlier passed an interim order on October 9 in the case allowing all serving members of the Tribunals to serve till December 31.

On account of such extension, he Member (Technical) of the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity, New Delhi, who was to superannuate on 08.11.2020, continued to discharge his functions and reserved judgments in various cases, which were heard by him, alongwith the Chairperson, APTEL.

In the final judgment pronounced on November 27, the Court said that the members of Tribunals, who were appointed prior to February 12, 2020, will retire as per the provisions of the Tribunal, Appellate Tribunal and other Authorities [Qualification, Experience and Other Conditions of Service of Members] Rules, 2020. Applying these rules, the APTEL Technical Member will retire on November 8.

As a result, various judgments which were reserved by the Member (Technical) APTEL could not be pronounced.

In this backdrop,  a series of applications were filed, seeking a clarification that the Member (Technical) of the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity in particular, shall continue to officiate till 31.12.2020 in terms of the Court's interim order passed on October 9.

On Thursday, when the matter was listed, Mr. Giri V, Senior Advocate, Mr. Sajan Poovayya, Senior Advocate, alongwith Mr. Hemant Singh, Mr. Mridul Chakravarty, Mr. Lakshyajit Singh Bagdwal and Mr. Tushar Srivastava, Advocates appeared before the Supreme Court, and submitted that in the interest of justice the Member (Technical) APTEL, may be allowed to officiate till December 31 this year, in order to at least pass judgments in the matters have been heard and reserved for judgments, prior to the passage of the final judgment on November 27.

Attorney General for India also appeared and submitted that in terms of Para 53 (xv) of the judgment, there is no ambiguity in the order. However, since precious judicial time has been invested in case, the Court may grant an extension to the Member (Technical) APTEL to continue to hold officiate till 31.12.2020, in order to pass the judgments which were reserved, the AG submitted.

After hearing the submissions of the Senior Advocates and the Attorney General, the Supreme Court passed an order stating that there is no need to give any clarification, since the judgment dated 27.11.2020 is clear, especially para 53 (xv) which states that in view of the final judgment on the 2020 Rules, the retirements of the Chairpersons, Vice Chairpersons and the members of the Tribunals shall be in accordance with the applicable Rules.

"The Technical Member, APTEL was scheduled to retire on 08.11.2020 in accordance with the terms of his appointment. The consequences of the direction issued by this Court have to follow. Though, we appreciate the difficulties pointed out by the learned Senior Counsel relating to the time and effort spent on the hearing of the cases, we do not intend to an exception. The Member, Technical, APTEL ceased to hold the post after 08.11.2020", a bench comprising Justices L Nageswara Rao,Hemant Gupta and S Ravindra Bhat held.

Click here to read/download the order