SC seeks govt's response on vacancies in ITAT

The Supreme Court today sought the government's response on a plea seeking appointment of president and vice presidents in different benches of Income Tax Appellate Tribunals (ITAT) across the country claiming that proceedings at the quasi-judicial bodies have come to "grinding halt".
A bench of Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justices N V Ramana and D Y Chandrachud issued notice to the central government and sought its response in four weeks.
The PIL filed by one Akshay Pundir said that "ad hocism has become order of the day as many of the posts of senior vice presidents and vice presidents have not been filled up".

The petition filed through advocate Sanjeeb Panigrahi said, "the timely appointment of Presidents, Vice-Presidents and members will go a long way in tackling the burgeoning tax litigations in the country."
"The government is not taking steps to appoint the president, nor is it clearing the names of vice presidents. Therefore a chaos will arise in business circles if no person would be appointed as President before the vacancy arises," the petition said.
It said "the incumbent President is going to retire on Feburary 17, 2017. Thereafter there is nobody in the vision of government for this post except two vice presidents working in Delhi and Hyderabad. The administrative work is also suffering because members have to wait for small things as the final decisions of vice presidents would not reach on time which also indirectly affects the litigants".