Esvonta Porobo's re-appointment as President of GAT to be challenged --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The recent re-appointment of Mr. Zoivonta Esvonta Porobo as President of Goa Administrative Tribunal (GAT) will be challenged through a Public Interest Litigation. Mr. Porobo had resigned as President of GAT after the Goa bench of the Bombay high court on 19th September 2002 quashed and set aside his appointment on a Public Interest Litigation filed by Adv. Aires Rodrigues. Mr. Porobo was later appointed as Joint Secretary Law by the Goa Government and has now been re-appointed as President GAT.
According to a press release, Adv. Aires Rodrigues has stated that Mr. Porobo's back-door appointment is illegal and will be challenged in the interests of independence of the Judiciary and to thwart Government treating a high judicial position like the President of GAT as an administrative position. Adv. Rodrigues has stated that when the appointment to the post of the President of the Administrative Tribunal was being made the provisions of the Constitution of India had to be followed so that the independence of the Judiciary is secured and that a mere post-facto consultation was not sustainable. In a representation to the Chief Justice of the Bombay High court Adv. Rodrigues has submitted that in the case of appointment of the President of Goa Administrative Tribunal, it was incumbent that the Government of Goa associate the High Court in the selection process itself and that a Judge of the High Court or a nominee of the Chief Justice of the High Court had to be on the selection committee from the inception and that such a judge or nominee of the Chief Justice had to preside over the selection committee and that his opinion on the selection process should have primacy. Adv. Rodrigues has submitted that the Government of Goa cannot on its own select a candidate for the post of the President of Administrative Tribunal and then consult the High Court in the matter of appointment as a mere formality only. He has further submitted that Consultation doesn't mean consultation only of a candidate who has already been selected by the Government and that it is the duty of the Government to consult the High Court in the selection process for the appointment and that it is in this selection process of the candidate that the consultation must take place. He says that there has been no consultation whatsoever in the selection process and so the Government of Goa could not have foisted Mr. Porobo as its selected candidate and consult the High Court only as regards the appointment forgetting completely of the selection process itself. * * * ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################
