patna the appointment of m r farooqui as the presiding officer of debt recovery tribunal here has sparked off a controversy with the central administrative tribunal cat taking cognisance of the matter and issuing notices to the officers concerned of union finance ministrythe ministry which was asked to submit its reply on the alleged violation of appointment process within four weeks with effect from december 3 is yet to give its reply even as the next date of hearing of the case was fixed on january 21cat took cognisance of the matter following a petition filed by s n choubey an advocate of the patna hc according to the petition the advertisement for the post for which district judges or persons eligible for becoming a district judge were eligible to apply was issued on july 7 2003 with the last date of submission of applications being august 8 2003 the candidates were informed about the date of interview through letters issued on january 30 2004 on february 14 2004 around two dozen candidates including a few district judges of bihar appeared for interviewthe petition said farooqui did not apply for the post his application was forwarded to the union finance ministry by the rajasthan hc on february 13 the same day his application was received candidature finalised and he received his interview letter