Cyber Appellate Tribunal headless
By Bala Shah

Cyber law expert Na.Vijayashankar, also known as Naavi in Cyberspace, is one of the most respected names in the Indian tech and online world.  As Chairman of the Digital Society Foundation and as a Director of Cyber Law College, one of Naavi’s life mottos is “Let’s build a responsible Cyber society”.  His views are highly regarded and he is regularly quoted by Indian media. 

Most recently, the Bangalore Cyber Security Summit held in Mid-March and which was addressed by Telecom and Technology guru Sam Pitroda, had invited Naavi to share his vast expertise at the conference.

Naavi has blogged about how the Cyber Appellate Tribunal remains closed, and he has requested the attention of Mrs. Sonia Gandhi
 
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It is now more than two months since Justice Sri Rajesh Tandon left office as Chairperson of Cyber Appellate Tribunal (CAT) since he attained superannuation during his contractual term.

Though his term was known to end on June 30, 2011, the Department of Information Technology (DIT) failed to take timely action in finding a replacement for the post or to extend the term of the outgoing person.

As a result India today does not have a functioning Cyber Court system.

Despite several reminders the Minister in Charge who happens to be Mr. Kapil Sibal, nor the Secretary Mr. R Chandrashekar have made any public statement on why no decision has yet been taken in this important matter.

Even the President of India and the Chief Justice of India who have been requested to intervene and instruct the department to make the necessary appointment without delay have not provided any relief.

As a result of the department’s inability to find a replacement for the outgoing Chair person, victims of Cyber Crimes who were waiting for judgment from the Court have been left in the lurch.

The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology has one Minister of Cabinet rank and two other ministers of State namely Mr. Milind Deora and Sachin Pilot. It appears however that none of them have time to address this important issue which relates to the commitment of the Government to a system of Judiciary to be in operation in the country for Cyber Crimes.

It appears that the department is awaiting return of Mrs. Sonia Gandhi for finalizing the appointment.

I request Madam Sonia Gandhi who is returning to India today to take personal note of this long delay in the appointment of the Chairperson for CAT.

Naavi
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(Techgoss thanks Naavi for allowing us to publish his views)