New Delhi (ILNS): The Supreme Court has extended the tenure of Prem Narain, a non-judicial member of the National Consumer Disputes Resolution Commission (NCDRC), by two months.
The bench of Justices L. Nageswara Rao, Hemant Gupta and S. Ravindra Bhat passed this order while hearing a petition filed by Kudrat Sandhu, challenging the appointment of the Prem Narain and the validity of the Tribunal Rules, 2020.
NCDRC member Prem Narayan is a 1978 batch IAS officer. He was appointed to the Commission on August 31, 2015. Narayan was due to retire on August 30 this year. He had filed a miscellaneous application in a writ petition (Kudrat Sandhu vs Union of India) seeking extension of his term till regular appointments are made. The said writ petition was disposed of by the constitution bench by upholding the constitutional validity of Section 184 of the Finance Act 2017, which empowers the Central Government to frame rules relating to appointment and service conditions of members of various tribunals.
On Tuesday the apex court in the order said:
“The term of the applicant – Prem Narain – who is a member of the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, was extended for a period of one month by an Order dated 28.08.2020. As this Court is hearing matters relating to the validity of the 2020 Rules, the term of the applicant is extended for a period of two months from 30.09.2020 or till the regular appointment is made whichever is earlier.”
The NCDRC is a quasi-judicial commission in India which was set up in 1988 under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986.
Read the order here;
Kudrat-Sandhu-ILNS