Supreme Court seeks response from Centre on abolition of Odisha Administrative Tribunal

The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought the response of the Central government on a plea challenging the abolition of the Odisha Administrative Tribunal (OAT) [Orissa Administrative Tribunal Bar Association v. Union of India]..The plea by Orissa Administrative Tribunal Bar Association stated that Central government had issued a notification abolishing OAT by invoking Section 21 of the General Clauses Act, 1897 (GCA) when the parent Act i.e. the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985 (AT Act) implicitly denied exercise of such power..A three-judge Bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao, Sanjiv Khanna and BR Gavai issued notice to the Centre and sought its response within 8 weeks. "It is a question of law which needs to be decided," the Court remarked.The Orissa High Court had earlier dismissed the plea leading to the present appeal before the Supreme Court.The plea stated that the High Court turned a blind eye to the abuse of power by the Centre as well as the State of Odisha, by simply terming it to be an administrative action."In the present case, the Centre could not invoke Section 21 of GCA to do indirectly that which was prohibited to be done directly under the AT Act, and by upholding the illegal and arbitrary decision of the government, the impugned judgment is liable to be set aside," the petition said.It highlighted that parliament by way of the 42nd Constitutional Amendment and pursuant to Article 323A had enacted the Administrative Tribunal Act.The parliament envisaged a twin purpose for establishing administrative tribunals i.e. to reduce the burden of cases on the High Courts as well as to secure speedy disposal of cases, the plea said.Administrative Tribunal Act does not by any stretch of imagination confer different meanings to the importance of establishing a Central Administrative Tribunal vis-à-vis State Administrative Tribunals."Central Government must establish a Central Administrative Tribunal and also a State Administrative Tribunal as and when requested by a State. The word “may” in this context is mandatory in nature," it was submitted. The plea filed through advocate Ashok Panigrahi and drawn by Advocates Geetanjali and Vinay Ratnakar said that Section 21 of the General Clauses Act, 1897 cannot be invoked for abolishing an administrative tribunal without any provision in the parent Act or the Rules permitting the Central government the power to rescind or quash any such notification."Since the power of the Central Government to establish and notify an administrative tribunal flows from an enabling provision legislated by the Parliament, the power for abolishing an administrative tribunal must flow from the legislation as well," the petition contended.Senior Advocate Atmaram Nadkarni appearing for the petitioner, submitted that this was a "serious issued which needed consideration."The Court was also informed that tribunal has ceased to exist and all cases in the tribunal have been transferred to the High Court.The Court agreed issuing notice to the Centre. The case will be heard again after 8 weeks.[Read Order]