District Judges or retired District Judges were alone to be considered for post of President of District Forum.

A. P. SHAH, C.J.

These writ petitions coming on for hearing on this day upon perusing the petitions and the affidavits filed in support thereof the orders of this Court dated 19.4.2007 and 13.7.2007 and made herein and upon hearing the arguments of T. Mohan, Advocate for the petitioner in W.P. No. 14248 of 1999 and W.P. No. 11680 of 2006 and of M. Radhakrishnan party in person in W.P. No. 15401 of 1999 and of C. Lakshmi Narain party in person in W.P. No. 15364 of 1999 and of G. Masilamani, Learned Advocate General on behalf of the Government in all the writ petitions and of Anbumani counsel appearing for the State Consumer Forum and of Vasu Venkat, Advocate for R4 in W.P. No. 11680 of 2006 this Court made the following order:

(The Order of the Court was made by Hon‘ble The Chief Justice) We have heard the learned counsel appearing for the petitioners; Shri G. Masilamani, learned Advocate General appearing for the State Government and Shri Anbumani, learned counsel appearing for the State Consumer Forum.

2. This Court by order dated 19.4.2007 issued directions inter alia in respect of appointment of Presidents and Members of the District Fora and certain other matters, with a further direction to the Secretary, Co-operation, Food and Consumer Protection Department to file an Action Taken Report within a period of ten weeks from the date of the order. The relevant directions are reproduced below:

“ a) The respondents are directed to convene the meeting of the Selection Committee and make the necessary appointments to the vacancies of four members in the District Fora and one Lady Member in the State Commission within a period of eight weeks from today;

b) As to the appointment of Presidents to the District Fora, there are four vacancies to be filled up. It seems that three retired District Judges have expressed their willingness to be appointed as Presidents and they can be immediately considered for appointment. As regards the appointment to the fourth vacancy, the President, State Commission can explore the possibility of filling up the said vacancy by a legally qualified person, preferably a retired District Judge;

c) The respondents are directed to ensure that anticipated vacancies are filled up without giving rise to any disruption in the functioning of the Consumer Fora. Advertisements may be given at least six months in advance for filling up the anticipated vacancies.

3. By order dated 13.7.2007, this Court issued further directions as follows:

“ b) In respect of filling up of four posts of Presidents to the District Fora, the report states that the Selection Committee in its meeting held on 28.6.2007, has selected four retired District Judges and orders will be issued by the Government shortly. Considering the above said compliance report, the State Government is directed to complete the process of appointment of four posts of Presidents of the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, within a period of two weeks from today.

c) In respect of anticipated vacancies, the previous order of this Court dated 19.4.2007, namely,

“The respondents are directed to ensure that anticipated vacancies are filled up without giving rise to any disruption in the functioning of the Consumer Fora. Advertisements may be given at least six months in advance for filling up the anticipated vacancies” shall continue to be followed.”

4. We are informed that, as on date, there are 8 vacancies or the posts of President in the District Fora, and there will be 6 more vacancies for the posts of President in the District Fora by the end of July, 2008. It appears that some of the vacancies are more than a period of two years, while some for more than one year. In spite of the categorical directions issued by this Court on 19.4.2007 and 13.7.2007, the State Government is yet to take steps to fill up the vacancies to the posts or presidents in the District Fora. At this stage, it is required to be stated that on 12.6.2007, the Selecti