Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud has expressed objection to the process of appointing chairpersons and members of state and district consumer dispute redressal commissions.
The CJI termed the requirement of passing written examination even for appointment of retired judges to these commissions as ‘far-fetched’ and asked the Center to file its reply in this regard.
A bench headed by the CJI asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, to seek instructions on the issue within a week.
Exercising its jurisdiction under Article 142 of the Constitution, the top court, in a 2023 judgment, had directed that the appointment of chairpersons and members of state and district consumer commissions would be based on the performance of candidates in a written examination consisting of two papers. Will be done on this basis.
During the hearing on Friday, the top court said that asking a retired high court judge or former district judge to appear in the written examination defeats the objectives of consumer protection rules.
It said that the work and judgments of retired judges are available to the selection committee, which can consider them before appointing them to such consumer protection forums.
“It (the test) is far-fetched and defeats the purpose of consumer protection rules,” the bench said. The bench said, “In the judgment of this court dated March 3, 2023, direction was issued under Article 142 of the Constitution that appointments to the posts of Chairman and members of the State Commission should be made on the basis of a written examination consisting of two papers.
Solicitor General Mehta said he would seek directions from the Central government on the need to conduct an examination especially for former high court judges and judicial officers.
“We will list it in the coming week,” a bench comprising Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Mishra said.