How is the TDSAT going to function without members, asks Delhi advocate Nidhi Parashar.

Ever since the retirement of its chairperson, Justice SB Sinha, on 2 November 2012, the Telecom Disputes Settlement & Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) has been functioning with only one technical member as the bench.

To make matters worse even that member, PK Rastogi, is to retire on 16 February 2013 and the Tribunal won’t function from tomorrow, according to a notice published today.

Rastogi can not be faulted for having held the court alone when, in fact, the TRAI Act provides for a bench of a chairperson and two members. For over a year now, the Tribunal has been holding court with only one member and chairperson, until the retirement of Justice Sinha.

I have gone through the dates of appointments of chairpersons in TDSAT, which is available here. It appears that since 2000 the TDSAT has never been without a chairman for more than two months. Although several news reports claimed that Justice Cyriac Joseph had been appointed as the chairperson of TDSAT, no one at the TDSAT registry or lawyers practicing in TDSAT know as to when (or if) Justice Joseph will be joining the Tribunal.

By failing to appoint a chairman for over 12 weeks, the government has increased the pendency of cases that were “ready to be disposed of”, as final hearing matters have risen to over 80 cases.

In the fall-out, litigants will soon not be able to approach the tribunal at all and the whole purpose behind establishing a special tribunal to deal with particular type of matters will be defeated.

I cannot help but wonder: what’s taking so long?

It’s a shame is we cannot even keep our courts running.

Nidhi Parashar is an advocate practising in Delhi