Implementation of notification re Haryana Administrative Tribunal deferred [Read Punjab & Haryana HC Order]

Days after widespread uproar was sparked off by a Central Government notification constituting the Haryana Administrative Tribunal, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has deferred its implementation for the time being. Consequently, service matters concerning State Government employees will continue to be heard by the High Court for now..The Bench of Chief Justice Krishna Murari and Justices Rajiv Sharma and Rakesh Kumar Jain passed an order to this effect on Friday. The Court has registered a suo motu case over the issue following a letter addressed to it by the State Bar Association today..The Central Government had issued a notification on July 24, 2019 under the Administrative Tribunal Act, 1985 constituting Haryana Administrative Tribunal to deal with service matters pertaining to State Government employees..However, the notification was issued despite the fact that the actual constitution of the tribunal had not been completed. Administrative members of the tribunal were yet to be appointed and the seat of the Principal Bench was not notified as required by Section 5(8) of the 1985 Act..The notification triggered members of the Bar to go on strike earlier this week, protesting the issuance of the notification. Consequently, the Court’s functioning had also came to a standstill..In this backdrop, the Bar Association filed an application today, appraising the Court of the hardship likely to be faced by litigants if service matters are transferred to the newly notified Haryana Administrative Tribunal, when its constitution is yet to be completed. The High Court also echoed similar concerns, observing,.“In the absence of constitution of the Principal Bench of the Tribunal and the notification with respect to the seat of the Principal Bench of the Tribunal the litigating public would be left without any remedy which would result into total failure of justice delivery system.“.These concerns were not disputed by Advocate General of Haryana BR Mahajan, Additional Solicitor General of India, Satya Pal Jain and Assistant Solicitor General Chetan Mittal, who had appeared today to assist the Court in the matter..Moreover, AG Mahajan also submitted that it would take some time before administrative members can be appointed and the principal seat notified. Therefore, he suggested that the implementation of the notification be deferred to enable the State Government to complete the necessary formalities. In the meantime, the High Court and District Courts in Haryana may continue to entertain fresh matters and the pending matters may not be transferred, the AG opined..On finding that the other State counsels also did not object to this suggestion, the Court directed that the implementation of the notification be deferred. To this end, the order states,.“In view of the statement made by Mr. B.R.Mahajan, Advocate General, Haryana not being objected to by Mr. Satya Pal Jain, learned Additional Solicitor General of India with Mr. Chetan Mittal, Assistant Solicitor General of India, the implementation of the notification dated 24.07.2019 is deferred for the time being and the fresh cases as well as pending cases shall continue to be entertained by the High Court as well as District Courts in Haryana till further orders of learned this Court.”.Image courtesy: Twitter.[Read the Order]