The All India Conference of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) is being held at New Delhi from November 26-27, 2016. The Conference will be inaugurated by Shri Justice T. S. Thakur, Chief Justice of India and will be presided over by the Union Minister for Law and Justice Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad. Mr Justice J. Chelameswar, Judge, Supreme Court of India will be the Guest of Honour. The Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North-Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh will be the Special Guest. The Judges of Supreme Court of India, Judges of High Court, Government officials and Advocates are also likely to attend the conference. A press release has been issued in this regard.
The inaugural function will be followed by the Key Note Address by Shri Justice A. K. Sikri, Judge Supreme Court of India followed by in-house deliberations.
The Central Administrative Tribunal was established by an Act of Parliament namely Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985 as sequel to the 42nd amendment of the Constitution of India inserting Article 323 A.
The Tribunal came into existence on 01.11.1985 for adjudicating disputes and complaints with respect to Recruitment and Conditions of Service of the persons appointed to the Public Services and Posts in connection with the affairs of the Union or any State or of any other Local Authorities within the territory of India or under the control of the Government of India. Apart from above the Tribunal also has the jurisdiction on the employees of 208 Public Sector Undertakings/ Organizations notified by the Government.
The Principal seat of Central Administrative Tribunal is at New Delhi and it has 16 Outlying Benches scattered all over the Country. The Tribunal is headed by the Chairman and 65 Members, 33 from Judicial (including Chairman) and 33 from the Administrative stream.
The Chairman is normally a retired Chief Justice of a High Court. At present, the Chairman of CAT is Justice Permod Kohli, who was previously the Chief Justice of the High Court of Sikkim. During the span of more than 30 years, the Tribunal has fulfilled its objective as it has disposed of 6,90,867 out of 7,32,649 cases, leaving a pendency of 41,616 cases as on September, 2016. The cases remain pending mainly due to non-completion of pleadings and non-filling up of the vacancies of Members at various benches of Tribunal and few old cases owing to stay granted by High Courts or because of cases having been remanded.
The Conference is held to discuss and deliberate upon the problems faced by the institution and to bring improvement in the judicial/administrative system so as to achieve higher disposal in the shortest possible time. Justice delivery by the Tribunal has been acclaimed as a better system for resolving the issues because of the time factor and also due to the expertise. It provides effective, inexpensive and speedy justice.
The Minister of State for Law and Justice, Shri P. P. Choudhary will deliver the address at the Valedictory Session to be held on 27th November, 2016. During the conference, discussion will also be held on important issues of relevance.
