The Supreme Court has referred the issue of the territorial jurisdiction of High Courts to adjudicate challenges to orders that have been passed by the principal bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) in New Delhi to a larger bench.
A bench comprising of Justice MR Shah and Justice BV Nagarathna have found that the matter affects a large number of employees and is of public importance.
The Court also noted that the respondent counsel has asked for decision by the apex court decision to be reconsidered in the Alapan Bandyopadhyay case.
“As per the judgement it is appropriate that the matter involving the issue of territorial jurisdiction of the concerned High Court to decide a challenge to an order passed by the chairman, CAT, principal bench, New Delhi should be considered by a larger bench.
The judgement also said that the registry should place the matter before the Chief Justice of India for appropriate orders at the earliest so that the aforesaid issue is resolved at the earliest.
The judgment was passed on an appeal filed by the Central government against an order of the Uttarakhand High Court which had pulled up the principal Bench of the CAT for allowing the Central government’s plea to transfer a case from the Nainital circuit bench to New Delhi.
The case was filed by whistle-blower and Indian Forest Services Officer, Sanjeev Chaturvedi.
The matter came up due to an original application (OA) which was filed by Chaturvedi before the Nainital bench of the CAT in August 2020.
The original application had challenged the Centre’s scheme for allowing the lateral entry of private professionals into government service at the rank of joint-secretary level.
The OA filed had argued that such a system is arbitrary, irrational and discriminatory against all the officers who have been working and getting trained extensively in the government from the grass-root level.
A transfer petition was moved by the Central government before the principal bench of CAT which had then allowed the case to be transferred i in December 2020, leading to the challenge of the same by Chaturvedi before the Uttarakhand High Court.
The High Court was apprised by the centre that the transfer petition was filed considering the possibility that the same policy might be challenged before other benches.
The petitioner contended that the such a submission is hypothetical, since it was never pleaded before the principal bench.
Indian Forest Services Officer, Sanjeev Chaturvedi said that as long as files are concerned, the Centre has the means to transfer them to Nainital as it would be difficult for him to travel to Delhi on each listing day, as he is posted in Uttranchal and cannot come in-person.
The High Court held that the balance of convenience was in the favour of Chaturvedi, since he would have to travel from Haldwani to New Delhi.
The officer added that this would result in financial expenditure along with waste of time and energy, which would prevent him from discharging his official duties.