FinMin can't treat DRT officers as subordinates, says Supreme Court

A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih was hearing a matter related to lawyers' strikes at DRT Visakhapatnam

The Supreme Court on Monday reprimanded the finance ministry and sought an explanation from it for asking the Debts Recovery Tribunals (DRTs) to collect data for the ministry.

A Bench comprising Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih said the ministry cannot treat the judicial staff of the DRTs as its subordinates.

"The ministry owes an explanation for calling upon DRTs to collect such huge data within such a short time. We are surprised to know that even DRTs were entrusted with the responsibility of collecting data regarding the amount recovered based on their orders," the court said.

"We wonder how this exercise could have been done by DRTs. By filing an affidavit dated October 17, 2024, the Under Secretary of the Department of Finance has justified the action on the part of the ministry," the court added.

The Bench came across this issue while hearing a matter related to the lawyers' strike at DRT Vishakhapatnam. DRT Vishakhattanam had earlier told the court that some applications were adjourned as its staffers were occupied with the data collection work mandated by the ministry. Taking exception to this, the court asked the finance ministry to file an affidavit on September 30.

The Bench on Monday was miffed over the justification provided by the ministry and after getting to know that all DRTs were asked to collect data. The Bench noted that the data were sought on several cases with DRTs amounting to Rs 100 crore and above, the total number of new cases filed, amount recovered, among others.

"Is DRT expected to have the data of the amount recovered? How will DRT know? What kind of data have you sought? How will DRT tell you how much amount a bank has recovered based on the orders? Will they go to every bank and find out how much amount borrowed has been recovered pursuant to the orders of the DRT?" Justice Oka asked.

The Bench was taken aback to learn that an email was sent by the ministry to all DRTs on September 9, seeking data within three days. 

"You are treating judicial staff as if they are your subordinates. We expect an apology from the government. Such extent of collection of data is sought within 3 days. If you want data to be collected, additional staff as required by DRTs should be provided. This will not be tolerated. Some of them are judicial officers, you are treating them as subordinates," Justice Oka said.

The ministry's counsel told the court that the data was sought for holding a meeting with all stakeholders on how to improve the system. The Bench said that if the ministry wanted data, it should deploy additional resources.

"It's good that the attention of the court has gone to this, otherwise this practice would have continued," Justice Oka said.