Chandigarh CAT in crisis; ‘last’ administrative member demitted office in June 2020

Saurabh Malik

Advertisement

Chandigarh, April 1

The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) at Chandigarh is in crisis. The “last” administrative member stationed at Chandigarh demitted office in June 2020. As of now, one judicial member was stationed at Chandigarh, while the administrative member was joining the proceedings before the Tribunal from Bangalore through video-conferencing.

Taking a note of the prevailing situation, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has sought the Union of India’s response on resolving the crisis. The Bench of Justice GS Sandhawalia and Justice Vikas Suri has asked Additional Solicitor-General of India Satya Pal Jain to assist the Court “as to what steps the Union of India proposes to take to resolve the crisis”.

The matter came to the High Court’s notice during the hearing of a petition filed in a service matter by Boota Singh against the Union of India and other respondents. Appearing before the Bench, senior counsel for the Union of India Arvind Moudgil prayed for time to comply with an earlier order. It was pointed out to the Bench that even at present only one judicial member was stationed at Chandigarh, whereas the administrative member was joining the proceedings from Bangalore.

“Prima facie, in the opinion of this court, this methodology is seriously handicapping the proceedings of the Central Administrative Tribunal and the litigants, who have approached the tribunal for redressal of their grievances. It has also been brought to our notice that the last administrative member, who was stationed at Chandigarh, demitted her office in June 2020 and thus, the present situation is prevailing for almost two years,” the Bench added.

Before parting with the order, the Bench issued a notice of the petition to Jain and called for “necessary affidavit” by a respondent by the next date of hearing. The case will now come up for further hearing and considering the Union of India’s response on May 6.