The Administrative Tribunals Act 1985 in Working Order
Chapter Nine
Syllabus topic 1, "Concepts and Agencies"
Pages 27 to 29 of 430
In one line
This is the Act that turned Article 323A into a working institution, and its section 28 is the ouster clause the Supreme Court eventually struck down.
In the wording a student can write in an exam: the Administrative Tribunals Act 1985 establishes the Central Administrative Tribunal and State Administrative Tribunals for the adjudication of disputes relating to recruitment and conditions of service of persons appointed to public services, confers on them the jurisdiction previously exercisable by the courts in those matters, and prescribes a procedure freed from the Code of Civil Procedure.
The sections a student must know
Section 14, the jurisdiction of the Central Administrative Tribunal. From an appointed day, the Tribunal exercises all the jurisdiction, powers and authority exercisable immediately before that day by all courts, except the Supreme Court, in relation to recruitment and matters concerning recruitment to an All India Service or to a civil service of the Union or a civil post under the Union, and all service matters concerning such persons and members of the defence civilian services.
Section 15, the jurisdiction of a State Administrative Tribunal. The same jurisdiction in relation to a civil service of the State or a civil post under the State, and in relation to local and other authorities within the State.
Section 17, the power to punish for contempt. The Tribunal has the same jurisdiction, powers and authority in respect of contempt of itself as a High Court has, which is what makes its orders enforceable.
Section 19, applications to the Tribunal. A person aggrieved by an order pertaining to a service matter may make an application to the Tribunal, and the Tribunal shall not ordinarily admit it unless the applicant has availed of all the remedies available under the relevant service rules.
Section 20, the exhaustion of departmental remedies. The Tribunal is not to admit an application unless the departmental remedies have been exhausted, subject to the exception where the appeal or representation has not been decided within six months.
Section 21, limitation. An application must ordinarily be made within one year of the final order, with provision for the period to run from the decision of the departmental appeal, and section 21(3) allows the Tribunal to admit an application after the period on sufficient cause.
Section 22, the procedure and powers. The Tribunal is not bound by the Code of Civil Procedure but is guided by the principles of natural justice, has power to regulate its own procedure, and has the powers of a civil court in respect of summoning witnesses, discovery, evidence on affidavit and the review of its own decisions.
Section 27, the finality of orders. Subject to the provisions about appeals, the order of a Tribunal disposing of an application is final and shall not be called in question in any court, and the Tribunal shall have all powers to enforce it.
The Administrative Tribunals Act 1985 in Working Order
Section 28, the exclusion of the jurisdiction of courts. As enacted, no court except the Supreme Court, and no other tribunal, was to exercise any jurisdiction in relation to the matters the Tribunal deals with.
Section 29, transfer of pending cases. Every suit or proceeding pending before a court immediately before the appointed day, which would have been within the Tribunal's jurisdiction, stands transferred to the Tribunal.
Section 28 and what happened to it
Section 28 is the provision that matters for MU's Module IV. Read literally it removed the High Courts entirely from service litigation. It survived S.P. Sampath Kumar v. Union of India, AIR 1987 SC 386, on the footing that the Tribunal is an effective substitute for the High Court, and it did not survive L. Chandra Kumar v. Union of India, AIR 1997 SC 1125, which held that the High Courts' power under Articles 226 and 227 is part of the basic structure and cannot be excluded. Section 28 is therefore unconstitutional to the extent that it purports to exclude the High Court, and the position now is that the Tribunal is the court of first instance and the High Court sits over it.
Natural justice inside the Act
Section 22 is the link between this Act and Module III. The Tribunal is freed from the Code of Civil Procedure but expressly bound by the principles of natural justice, which is a statutory recognition of everything in [Procedural Fairness and the Principles of Natural Justice]. Freedom from the Code is not freedom from fairness.
A worked example
An Assistant Engineer in a Union department is superseded in a promotion made in March. He files a departmental appeal in April; it is not decided. In November he wants to go to court.
He cannot go to the High Court first: section 14 takes the jurisdiction and section 19 sends him to the Tribunal, subject to section 20 which requires him to have exhausted departmental remedies. His appeal has been pending more than six months, so the proviso to section 20 lets him in. Limitation under section 21 runs from the date of the final order or from the expiry of the six months. He files before the Tribunal, which is not bound by the Code but must follow natural justice under section 22. If he loses, section 28 does not stop him: after L. Chandra Kumar he may move a Division Bench of the High Court under Articles 226 and 227, and only after that the Supreme Court.
The Administrative Tribunals Act 1985 in Working Order
What this does NOT mean
It does not mean the Tribunal is a department. It is a judicial body, its Chairman is or has been a High Court judge, and section 17 gives it contempt powers.
It does not mean the Act still excludes the High Court. Section 28 is read down after L. Chandra Kumar, and reciting it as good law is the commonest error in an answer on this topic.
It does not mean a litigant may choose between the Tribunal and the High Court. He must go to the Tribunal first; the High Court's jurisdiction is supervisory and not an alternative first instance.
Quick revision
Sections 14 and 15 confer the jurisdiction; section 17 gives contempt power; section 19 is the application; section 20 requires departmental remedies to be exhausted, with a six-month proviso; section 21 gives a one-year limitation with power to condone; section 22 frees the Tribunal from the Code but binds it to natural justice; section 27 makes the order final; section 28 excluded the courts and is unconstitutional so far as the High Courts are concerned; section 29 transferred pending cases. Sampath Kumar upheld the Act with conditions; L. Chandra Kumar removed the ouster.
Test yourself
1. What does section 22 do, and why does it matter for Module III? It frees the Tribunal from the Code of Civil Procedure but binds it to the principles of natural justice, so the whole of the fairness law applies to it by statute.
2. Can an applicant go straight to the Tribunal without a departmental appeal? Ordinarily no, because section 20 requires the departmental remedies to be exhausted, unless the appeal or representation has been pending for six months.
3. State the present status of section 28. It is unconstitutional to the extent that it excludes the jurisdiction of the High Courts under Articles 226 and 227 and of the Supreme Court under Article 32: L. Chandra Kumar.
The rest of this subject
These notes are cut from the University's printed syllabus. Open the syllabus itself, or the past papers, for the same subject.