Margao: State govt has appointed advocate Savio Joaquim Filipe Correia as president of the Goa administrative tribunal, filling the post nearly four months after it fell vacant and less than a fortnight after the Bombay high court directed govt to make the appointment.The appointment was notified through an order issued by the law department’s establishment division on Tuesday under Section 3(2) of the Goa Administrative Tribunal Act, 1965. The post had been vacant since May 30, when the previous president, a district judge on deputation, demitted office.The appointment follows strong observations by the high court while hearing a petition filed by the South Goa Advocates Association seeking an additional tribunal bench for South Goa. The division bench had said, “A forum has to be there. There has to be an appointment. It can’t just be kept vacant.”The court had noted that the vacancy was creating practical difficulties, with tribunal cases requiring urgent relief being routinely referred to district judges. It directed the state to fill the post, stressing that the tribunal had to function.During the hearing, advocate general Devidas Pangam informed the court that 956 cases were pending before the tribunal. He had argued that having two presidents may not be viable, to which the court said it was not interfering in the decision and that the state had to decide.The tribunal is an appellate body dealing with disputes under the Agricultural Tenancy Act and Mundkar Act, besides appeals involving cooperative societies and matters from the municipal appellate tribunal. The vacancy had left hundreds of cases pending before the forum.
