SC slams Finance Ministry for asking data from debts recovery tribunals

The Supreme Court on Monday pulled up the Union Finance Ministry for seeking data from the Debts Recovery Tribunals (DRT) over the amount recovered on the basis of the tribunals' orders and sought an explanation.

A bench comprising Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih said the ministry could not treat the judicial staff of the DRTs as its subordinates and owed an explanation for calling upon the tribunals to collect such huge data within a short time.

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

The top court expressed its surprise over the DRTs carrying out such an exercise.

"The secretary of the department concerned shall look into the entire thing after going through the orders of this court and other material on record and ensure that a proper affidavit is filed," the bench said.

On September 30, the top court had issued a notice to the section officer, Ministry of Finance, Department of Financial Services, to appear before it and explain how the DRTs could be treated as a Central government department.

The apex court was hearing a plea challenging the adjournment of an application pending before the tribunal due to a lawyers' strike.

The court had issued a contempt notice against the Vishakhapatnam Bar Association for abstaining from court work, leading to the non-functioning of the DRT.