New Delhi: The Supreme Court has expressed its strong displeasure at the defunct Wakf Tribunal in Uttarakhand, and sought an explanation from the state chief secretary.
A bench led by Justice Kurian Joseph was dismayed by the fact that the Tribunal has been rendered defunct due to non-appointment of its third member for more than four years.
Issuing a notice to the Uttarakhand government, the bench sought to know the reason for the inordinate delay in appointing the third member.
According to the Court, the entire administration of justice was suffering in the state because matters relating to Wakf properties were being taken by litigants directly to the High Court due to the defunct Tribunal.
"We find that the Wakf Tribunal is not functioning in the state because the state has not appointed the third member to the Tribunal. Therefore, all the matters have been taken straight to the High Court. We are informed that this appointment is awaited since the last four years," noted the Court in its order.
The bench reproached the "inaction" on the part of the authorities concerned in appointing the member in the Tribunal, and made the Chief Secretary directly answerable.
"We direct the chief secretary to the state to file an affidavit within two weeks from today explaining as to why no appointment is made, since the whole process of administration of justice is disturbed by the inaction on the part of the state in appointing the third member in the Waqf Tribunal," it ordered.
The Court sought the affidavit from the top bureaucrat and fixed the matter for hearing next on March 26.
The order came when an appeal against the HC order in a matter relating to a Wakf property came up before the bench.
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