The Supreme Court on Tuesday voiced concern over the prolonged vacancies in the administrative wing of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), observing that it was “surprised” by the state of affairs and indicating that it would seek the Attorney General’s intervention to expedite appointments.
A Bench of Chief Justice of India B R Gavai and Justice Joymalya Bagchi was hearing a writ petition moved by Parveen Kumar Bansal raising grievances over unfilled posts in the tribunal’s administration.
Appearing in the matter, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi submitted that several crucial positions in the ITAT, the oldest quasi-judicial body, had remained vacant for years, hampering the institution’s functioning.
“All posts of officers are lying vacant for a number of years,” Rohatgi told the Bench. He said the vacancies spanned multiple levels of the administrative structure.
“Assistant Registrars are vacant, PSCs are vacant, everything is vacant,” he added, while suggesting that the court could issue a short notice and examine the issue administratively.
The Chief Justice of India (CJI) observed that the court too was astonished by the situation. “We will do something because we are also surprised that why these posts are long vacant,” the CJI remarked.
The Bench then asked whether the vacancies were limited to the principal bench of the tribunal or were prevalent across regional benches as well.
Responding to the query, Rohatgi said the issue existed throughout the country. “Everywhere. For 10 years the posts are lying vacant. I don’t know how it functions,” he submitted.
Taking note of the submissions, the court said it would seek the assistance of the Attorney General. “We will request the Attorney General to look into it,” the Chief Justice said.
According to the order passed by the court, a copy of the petition has been directed to be furnished to the office of the Attorney General so that steps may be taken to ensure that the vacant positions in the ITAT are filled expeditiously.
Bansal, former vice-president of the ITAT from March 2017 to January 2018 at the Mumbai bench, in his plea sought directions for the immediate initiation and completion of the recruitment process for vacant posts of deputy registrar and assistant registrar in the tribunal, referring to a representation dated December 27, 2025.
He told the court that no appointments have been made to key administrative posts such as deputy registrar and assistant registrar since 2018.
The plea also sought directions for convening the long-pending Departmental Promotion Committee for promotions to posts including senior private secretary, private secretary, and other subordinate staff positions, which the petition stated had remained pending since 2015 and 2017. The petitioner further sought a status report detailing the timeline for filling the vacancies.
As per the petition, six deputy registrar and 27 assistant registrar posts lie vacant. Additionally, 246 posts in the subordinate cadre also lie vacant, including posts such as senior private secretary, private secretary, superintendent, office superintendent, upper division clerk (UDC), lower division clerk (LDC), and multi-tasking staff (MTS).
