Petition for Establishment of Permanent CAT Bench in Jammu

In this post we will discuss about a a petition that was filed by two Jammu-based advocates,who submitted that it is impossible for litigants and advocates to make a representation before the bench in Chandigarh due to geographic remoteness, financial constraints and unavailability of internet access.

The CAT branch of Chandigarh

In the present times tribunals have been provided with ample amount of powers, similar to those of High Courts in their respective fields. Initially, there was no word as tribunal under our constitution. By Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985[1](13 of 1985) articles 323-A[2] and 323-B[3] were subsequently added to provide for tribunals in our judicial framework by way of 42^nd amendment in the constitution. The CAT has 20Benches with a principal bench in Delhi and further new benches can be composed by was of a notification by the central government.

Initially they were opposed on many counts. One of the prominent judgements is L. Chandra kumar on the subject which held that the power of judicial review cannot be taken away by the tribunals and held the provision which takes away the power of courts unconstitutional. Moreover the tribunals are inferior to the courts being a creation of a statute of the parliament and maintained the super many of High Courts and Supreme Court because they being the functionaries of the constitution itself.

One of the arguments in favour was the pendency of cases, which I personally feel has been further aggravated, because of the exceeding amounts of appeals provided in law. Moreover these tribunals are manned by people of executive branch who are not well equipped to balance the scales of justice, where , of the matters are against the executive branch. This leads to a lack of public trust in the citizens and further, it can hamper people’s trust in the constitutional process.

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On April 29, 2020, the Department of Personnel and Training (DOPT) of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, extended the jurisdiction of CAT’s Chandigarh bench over the J&K and Ladakh UTs. This means CAT’s Chandigarh bench will hear all matters of UT (formerly state) employees and Central government employees in J&K.[4]

A petition was filed by two Jammu-based advocates,which submitted that it is impossible for litigants and advocates to make a representation before the bench in Chandigarh due to geographic remoteness, financial constraints and unavailability of internet access.

This move would lead to resentment in the citizens, and is highly opposed. Moreover there will be a loss of livelihood to the lawyers in J&K as the move would transfer close to 40k cases to the Chandigarh jurisdiction. It would be better for the government to make a new CAT specifically catering the needs of J&K.

Tribunals are an important issue at present times and need further reconsideration specially it being an important constitutional issue, and also an issue which attract the doctrine of separation of powers. On those similar lines there was a protest in Punjab and Haryana high court, when an order to set up a tribunal at Haryana was passed by the government. Most of the matters in the High court are service law matters and for that particular reason there was a protest against the tribunal. Moreover it was argued that it would violate separation of powers because as I have mentioned the tribunals are manned by the executive personnel.

Chapter 3 of the central administrative act, 1985 deal with the power and jurisdiction of the tribunal.

Although the tribunals should not be equated by the judicial courts, they exercise same power as a civil court. They also have powers to punish for contempt similar to those of the High Courts

The CAT exercises a subject matter jurisdiction on all service matters of employees who are working in the central government. Whenever there is a special court for a particular matter, it is advised to approach that court.

Chandigarh being a UT, it has employees of state government, central government and the UT government respectively. Hence, we have to see the organisation of the employee and by that we would know to which tribunal we should approach.[5]For instance the matters of arms personnel always go to the arms tribunal and no other court has the jurisdiction to try it.

There lies an appeal from the tribunal to the High Court by way of a writ petition. Although you can approach the higher courts directly in case of violation of a constitutional right, but it is advised to to exhaust all your remedies before approaching the higher courts.

The CAT branch of Chandigarh enjoys a exclusive territorial jurisdiction over the central government employees of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and UT of Chandigarh.

ALSO READ- SERVICE MATTERS TRANSFERRED TO CAT TRIBUNAL CHANDIGARH

Conclusion

The e-filing of cases in the Chandigarh bench has been in progress and hearings are happening through video conference. Though the decision regarding J&K is not considered by the government, I feel It would further hamper the judicial process for the people of J&K. I feel by the abrogation of 370 we have further alienated them form India, though J&K being an integral part of India. In the present scenario, the least government could do is set up a bench for CAT in J&k to lessen the hardship of the citizens. After all justice delayed is justice denied and in case of J&K I feel, it has been long denied.

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This post is written by Gurdeep Singh

For case specific advice, please contact best top Expert CAT Tribunal Chandigarh Bench Lawyer Advocate in Chandigarh Panchkula Mohali Kharar Derabassi Zirakpur Baltana etc.