Suggestion to bring all Govt bodies under CAT jurisdiction

NEW DELHI: The All India Conference of the CAT has proposed that all institutions and authorities, owned or controlled by the Government, be brought under the jurisdiction of the Tribunal.

The Conference has also taken a decision regarding issuance of a general notification for bringing all such government bodies under the Tribunal's jurisdiction as it was felt that it was self-sufficient to deal with service matters of any kind.

The decision regarding issuance of a general notification under the Administrative Tribunals Act for the purpose was also taken after deliberations at the Conference held on Sunday.

Many other measures for improving the service conditions of the Chairman and members of the CAT were recommended to make functioning of the institution smooth and effective.

Earlier at the Conference's inaugural function on Saturday, Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan welcomed the initiatives in the field of service jurisprudence, including the CAT experiment.

"It is in the interest of state to address the grievances of the employees so that they can effectively serve the general populace," he had said.

The CJI had also cautioned against the government's tendency to challenge CAT's orders in courts. "The problem is a large number of CAT decisions are challenged in courts. This is not a good thing," he said.

"They (government officials) should feel these are specialised tribunals and they should end the litigation in the tribunals," the CJI had said.