Madras High Court restrains SCDRC from publishing prez post results

A division bench of Justices M V Muralidharan and N Seshasayee also ordered issue of notice returnable within two weeks on a petition filed by R Varatharajan, an advocate.

The petition sought to quash the order issued by National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) to prefer either a sitting judge or a retired judge for the appointment for the post of president of District Fora, and only in the event of non-availability of sitting or retired judges, an advocate should be considered for appointment. 

The petitioner submitted that 80 applications had been received for the post of president of the District fora, of which 20 applications were from advocates. 

There were only two advocates working as presidents of fora. 

As per the statute, the president should be selected based on comparative merit, he claimed. 

The letter of the NCDRC was arbitrary and against the statute, which specified that selection should be done based on merit, he added.