Jaipur: The Rajasthan High Court Tuesday gave the state govt seven days to fill outstanding vacancies in the Rajasthan Civil Services Appellate Tribunal (RAT), orally observing that the govt should shut down the tribunal if it was unable to run it.A division bench of Justices Inderjeet Singh and Sanjeet Purohit made the remarks while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by 11 advocates over the tribunal’s non-functional status due to the absence of a chairperson and members.The petitioners argued that prolonged vacancies in RAT had left govt employees without a functional forum to challenge administrative decisions relating to transfers, promotions and related matters.“We have argued that because of the vacancies in the tribunal, issues related to govt employees are going unaddressed, as a result of which they are unable to secure timely justice,” Sandeep Kalwaniya, one of the petitioners, said.Pointing to recent large-scale transfers ordered by the state govt as an example, the petitioners questioned who aggrieved employees were supposed to approach when it came to seeking redressal of their grievances.Taking note of the submissions, the court directed the state govt to appoint the tribunal’s chairperson and members within seven days. “If the appointments are not made within the stipulated period, secretary, Department of Personnel, would have to appear personally before the court on Aug 11,” the bench said.The post of RAT chairperson has remained vacant since March 19 following the transfer of the last incumbent, Vikas Sitaram Bhale. Of the tribunal’s four sanctioned member posts, two have also remained vacant for a considerable period.Presently, tribunal member and former IAS officer Prakash Sharma is holding additional charge as chairperson.
