[BREAKING] Delhi High Court dismisses Alapan Bandyopadhyay plea challenging CAT order to transfer his case from Kolkata to Delhi

The Delhi High Court on Monday dismissed the petition filed by former West Bengal Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay challenging the order passed by the Principal Bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) which transferred a case filed by him from Kolkata to Delhi [Alapan Bandyopadhyay v Union of India and Anr]..The order was pronounced by a Division Bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh which had reserved the matter for orders on February 25."For the aforesaid reasons, this Court finds no reason to interfere with the aforesaid order. The petition is dismissed. It is made clear that the Court has made no comments on the disciplinary proceedings, including the competence of the Central government to initiate such proceedings," the Court said..The West Bengal government and the Central government have been locked in a tug of war over Bandyopadhyay following a political controversy arising out of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s review meeting on cyclone Yaas in 2021.It was alleged that Bandyopadhyay turned up late to the meeting presided by the PM, after which the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) initiated proceedings against him. The Centre subsequently set up a panel to probe the charges against him.This move was challenged by him before the Kolkata Bench of CAT. However, the matter was transferred to Delhi before any hearing could take place. Bandyopadhyay challenged the order of the CAT Chairman before the Calcutta High Court, which set it aside.Subsequent to an appeal by the Centre, the Supreme Court set aside the order of the Calcutta High Court, holding that any decision of the CAT at Delhi, including the one passed under Section 25 of the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985, could be subjected to scrutiny "only before a Division Bench of a High Court within whose jurisdiction the tribunal concerned falls.".Bandyopadhyay then moved the Delhi High Court challenging the transfer of case. His plea stated that the order passed by the Principal Bench of CAT was in complete violation of the principles of natural justice, equity and fair play as he was not even granted a right to file his written objections to the transfer petition filed by the Centre, which was allowed on the very first day of its listing.“The petitioner is the former Chief Secretary to the Government of West Bengal and retired on 31st May, 2021. The petitioner ordinarily and permanently resides in Kolkata. Therefore, the petitioner had an unqualified right under Rule 6(2) of the Central Administrative Tribunal (Procedure) Rules, 1987 to file the Original Application before the Kolkata Bench. Further, the entire cause of action in respect of the Original Application as well as the underlying disciplinary proceedings against the Petitioner occurred within the jurisdiction of the Kolkata Bench,” the petition said..Appearing for Bandyopadhyay, Advocate Karthikey Bhatt had argued that the CAT Chairman did not give him any time before transferring the matter to Delhi.He said that the matter concerned an inquiry with respect to the incident that happened in West Bengal, the officer is an IAS officer of the West Bengal cadre and all the papers pertaining to the case are also in that territory.The only witness that the Union of India seeks to examine is the officer of West Bengal, and therefore, the balance of convenience also lies in Bandyopadhyay’s favour, Bhatt had said. .Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, however, submitted that the CAT Chairman passed the order under Section 25 of The Administrative Tribunals Act, which is an administrative order and the only conditions prescribed in the Section is that the Chairman should give reasons for the order and that it should not be capricious or arbitrary."Section 25 refers to the power of the Chairman to transfer cases from one bench to another. The powers are very wide. The Chairman has the power to transfer cases from one bench to any other bench. This is a master of roster power and held to be administrative by the Supreme Court,” he had said..The Calcutta High Court had passed a scathing order on October 29, 2021 berating the Principal Bench of CAT for what it perceived as favouring the Central government in its attempt to transfer a case filed by Bandyopadhyay from Kolkata to New Delhi.The High Court Bench of Justices Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya and Rabindranath Samanta said that the modus operandi of the Central government to get the case transferred to the principal bench of CAT at New Delhi reeked of mala fides.It was unfortunate that the Principal Bench nurtured such efforts by allowing Centre's transfer petition, the High Court had said..The Supreme Court set aside the Calcutta High Court on ground of lack of jurisdiction. While doing so, it underscored that once a Constitution Bench of Supreme Court has declared the law that “all decisions of tribunals created under Article 323A and Article 323B of the Constitution will be subject to the scrutiny before a Division Bench of the High Court within whose jurisdiction the concerned tribunal falls”, "then it is impermissible to make any further construction on the said issue.".[BREAKING] Alapan Bandyopadhyay case: Supreme Court sets aside Calcutta High Court verdict castigating CAT

[BREAKING] Delhi High Court dismisses Alapan Bandyopadhyay plea challenging CAT order to transfer his case from Kolkata to Delhi

Prashant Jha

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