Pendency to be reduced to half by year end — CESTAT President

The CESTAT Bar Association organized a party on 30-4-2009 in the capital to welcome Justice R.M.S. Khandeparkar as President of the Tribunal. The tone for the evening was set by Mr. D.N. Mehta, President of Bar Association. He accorded a warm welcome to the new President and Members Mr. Veeraiyan, Mr. D.N. Panda, Mr. P.K. Das and Mr. Rakesh Kumar besides Mr. Rakesh Bhatia, CDR, officers of CESTAT Registry and members of the Bar.

Shri Mehta expressed concern over increasing pendency of appeals and the need for creation of more Benches immediately. Mr. Mehta said that the President has been appointed and there is no justification or excuse for not filling up vacancies of Members. He also stated that the CESTAT Benches are not following precedents, thus creating confusion and resulting in avoidable uncertainty. He stressed the need to follow the precedents.

Justice R.M.S. Khandeparkar thanked the Bar Association for extending a warm welcome and lauded the body for the cooperation it is extending to him. The President assured that pendency of appeals will be brought down to half by this year end. Referring to the 32-point agenda of the Bar Association, he said that he will be sorting out all the issues raised shortly.

Justice Khandeparkar said that he understands the problems of the Bar better as he himself had been in the Bar Association of Bombay High Court.

In his introductory remarks, Mr. R.K. Jain, Secretary of Bar Association while thanking Justice Khandeparkar for assuming office without loss of time said “the government as usual lost lot of time in appointing the President to the extent that this Bar Association had to knock the door of the Apex Court.” He noted that there should not be any time lag between the retirement of a President and appointment of new President as the institution cannot remain without full-fledged head even for a few days.

On the new President, Mr. Jain said “It is our good fortune that we have got Mr. Justice Khandeparkar as our President. I need not elaborate on his qualities or scholarly wisdom. He is a man of action. He is dynamic, and if needed he can be a dynamite also.”

Highlighting the important role of the CESTAT, Mr. Jain elaborated  “Our institution disposes cases involving huge stakes and having much implication for the exchequer and national economy. It is almost on par with High Court as appeal from our Tribunal lies to Hon’ble Supreme Court in very many cases. Also, our Hon’ble Judicial Members are eligible for appointment as High Court Judges and we had number of Members who became Judges of High Court later. Our Technical Members had headed the Revenue Board and other high positions in the Revenue Department before joining the Tribunal and even after going from the Tribunal. Our CESTAT being so important, nothing can give us so much pleasure than being provided with the leadership of personality like Justice Khandeparkar who had fairly long experience in the High Court.”

Turning his attention to the problem of large pendencies and need for providing adequate facilities to Members of the Bar and Bench, Mr. Jain said “We have requested for launching a clearance drive for appeals which are more than 5 years old. From timely uploading of cause list to uploading of copies of all orders, we have brought to His Lordship’s kind attention the need to update website of the Tribunal. On infrastructure improvement, several suggestions have been placed by us. The other important issue the Bar has taken up with the Hon’ble President is the filling up of vacancies of Members - both Judicial and Technical. Periodical meetings between the Bench and Bar will also help in several ways.”

“Our Tribunal has celebrated its Silver Jubilee recently. But, we don’t have our own building so far. The Members of the Bar are rendering assistance to the Bench even without the basic facilities such as Chambers, Canteen, Service Centre with Photocopying, Fax and Internet facilities and there is shortage of space for Bar Library. We are fully aware of the fact that in the matter of having basic facilities required for conducive judicial working, the Hon’ble President and Hon’ble Members of the CESTAT are no better placed than the Members of the Bar. The Ministry of Finance should take more interest in this regard”, he said.

Noting that the job of a Judge is not easier, Mr. Jain said “We, at the Bar, are aware that the role of the Judges is difficult - they have to satisfy everyone - the parties to the cause, the appellate courts - even the loser should be a satisfied person with reasoning given against him. We are proud that orders passed by our Tribunal have been approved by the highest court of the land, in several cases though in some recent decisions the Apex Court has expressed expectations for more detailed and rational orders from the CESTAT.”

Vote of thanks was proposed by Mr. L.P. Asthana and Mr. J.P. Kaushik. Mr. A.C. Jain, Executive Committee Member of the Bar Association anchored the function.

Speech of R.K. Jain Secretary, Bar Association

Hon’ble Mr. President, Hon’ble Members of the CESTAT, and my distinguished colleagues from the Bar and friends - It is a matter of great privilege and honour that I have been asked to give Introductory Remarks  in this august gathering. I extend a very warm welcome to each one of you.

This evening is dedicated to welcoming the most respected Hon’ble Mr. Justice Khandeparkar. We wish to express our sincere thanks to him for taking over as President of our CESTAT without loss of time though the Government as usual lost lot of time in appointing the President to the extent this Bar Association had to knock the door of the Apex Court. I would not dwell on the circumstances, but it was absolutely necessary that there should not be any time lag between the retirement of a President and appointment of new President as the institution cannot remain without full-fledged head even for a few days.

It is our good fortune that we have got Mr. Justice Khandeparkar as our President. I need not elaborate on his qualities or scholarly wisdom. He is a man of action. He is dynamic, and if needed he can be a dynamite also. It is becoming increasingly rare these days to find men who are good at both heart and action. But, one such rare personality has arrived to lead us.

CESTAT commands the number one position among all similar Tribunals. Our institution disposes cases involving huge stakes and having much implication for the exchequer and national economy. It is almost on par with High Court as appeal from our Tribunal lies to Hon’ble Supreme Court in very many cases. Also, our Hon’ble Judicial Members are eligible for appointment as High Court Judges and we had number of Members who became Judges of High Court later. Our Technical Members had headed the Revenue Board and other high positions in the Revenue Department before joining the Tribunal and even after going from the Tribunal. Our CESTAT being so important, nothing can give us so much pleasure than being provided with the leadership of personality like Justice Khandeparkar who had fairly long experience in the High Court.

An office-bearer of the Bar Association is always tempted to secure maximum for its members whenever he gets an opportunity to meet the President. But the President has given a patient hearing to all our 32 points in the meeting last month. We have requested for launching a clearance drive for appeals which are more than 5 years old. From timely uploading of cause list to uploading of copies of all orders, we have brought to His Lordship's kind attention the need to update website of the Tribunal. On infrastructure improvement, several suggestions have been placed by us.

Our Tribunal has celebrated its Silver Jubilee recently. But, we don't have our own building so far. The Members of the Bar are rendering assistance to the Bench even without the basic facilities such as Chambers, Canteen, Service Centre with Photo-copying, Fax and Internet facilities and there is shortage of space for Bar Library. We are fully aware of the fact that in the matter of having basic facilities required for conducive judicial working, the Hon’ble President and Hon’ble Members of the CESTAT are no better placed then the Members of the Bar. The Ministry of Finance should take more interest in this regard.

The other important issue the Bar has taken up with the Hon’ble President is the filling up of vacancies of Members - both Judicial and Technical. Periodical meeting between the Bench and Bar will also help in several ways. I will not take your valuable time in highlighting all our agenda points here. The only point I wish to note is that our respected President has assured his best. We are very confident and we take this opportunity to assure him of all cooperation and support from the Bar.

We, at the Bar, are aware that the role of the Judges is difficult - they have to satisfy everyone - the parties to the cause, the appellate courts - even the loser should be a satisfied person with reasoning given against him. We are proud that orders passed by our Tribunal have been approved by the highest court of the land, in several cases though in some recent decisions the Apex Court has expressed expectations for more detailed and rational orders from the CESTAT.

I will not dilate on other issues. I once again welcome our Hon’ble President to our great institution and to this grand event. I also welcome once again the Hon’ble Members and all our friends to this wonderful get together. We are hopeful that under the able leadership of our Hon’ble President, the CESTAT will scale new heights and truly become role model for all other Tribunals in our country.

Once again, Sir, we assure you the best of our cooperation in all your endeavours.

Thanking you,