Supreme Court Seeks Attorney General's Intervention Over Long-Vacant Administrative Posts In ITAT

The petition filed by Parveen Kumar Bansal, sought directions for immediate initiation and completion of the recruitment process for vacant posts including Deputy Registrar and Assistant Registrar, besides convening long-pending Departmental Promotion Committees for promotions to posts such as Senior Private Secretary and Private Secretary, which were stated to be pending since 2015 and 2017.

A Bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi issued notice and listed the matter for further hearing on July 15, 2026.

"A copy of the paper book shall be supplied to the office of the learned Attorney General for India, who, in turn, is requested to intervene in the matter and ensure that the unfilled administrative posts are filled at the earliest in the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal. As an interim measure, for administrative posts such as Registrar, Deputy Registrar, etc., the Tribunal may request the High Court(s) to provide judicial officers on deputation, wherever such officers can be spared.", the Court said.

Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi appearing for the petitioner, submitted before the Court that several important administrative positions in the ITAT had remained unfilled for years, severely affecting the tribunal's functioning.

“All posts of officers are lying vacant for a number of years,” Rohatgi submitted. He further stated, “Assistant Registrars are vacant, PSCs are vacant, everything is vacant,” while suggesting that the Court could issue a short notice and consider the issue on the administrative side.

Reacting to the submissions, the Chief Justice observed, “We will do something because we are also surprised that why these posts are long vacant.”

When the Bench asked whether the vacancies were limited to the principal bench or extended across the country, Rohatgi responded, “Everywhere. For 10 years the posts are lying vacant. I don't know how it functions.”

Taking note of the issue, the Court observed, “We will request the Attorney General to look into it.”

The Court then directed that a copy of the petition be supplied to the office of the Attorney General so that steps could be taken for filling the vacant posts in the ITAT at the earliest.

For Petitioner: Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, Advocates Prakash Chand Yadav, Manju Bala Yadav, Raghavendra Pratap Singh, AOR