The Bombay High Court on Monday came down heavily on the Central government for not allotting new premises for the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT).
A Division Bench of Justices Abhay Oka and Riyaz Chagla was hearing a petition by the DRT Bar Association that said that on June 1 a fire on the third floor of Scindia House in Ballard Estate had spread to the the fifth and sixth floors, where the DRT and the DR Appellate Tribunal were located.
Access is still shut as the building is under repair. As a result, the functioning of the DRT offices has ceased. The plea pointed out that the Ministry of Finance is not taking any action to provide alternate infrastructure, and sought directions from the court for permanent or temporary courtrooms.
Earlier, the Centre had informed the court it had identified office space in the MTNL building in south Mumbai to house the DRT. However, on Monday, the counsel appearing for the Centre said that besides lack of funds, the delay had been caused because some officers of the Finance Ministry had submitted that the HC had ruled out the allotment of the space in MTNL building.
The court noted that it had never passed any such order. The Bench said, “Who is this officer who is misreading the court's order? You are liable for contempt proceedings because of misreading our orders and for delaying the allotment."
The court was informed that the MTNL building requires a six month interest-free security deposit of around ₹44.1 lakh. So₹2.5 crores will have to be paid to MTNL. The court said, “We had asked you to give the premises by August 10 and you have not even yet sanctioned the amount.”
The matter is adjourned till August 21.
(With inputs from PTI)
