Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Nov 25: The defence personnel will now be able to get their grievances redressed without facing the hassle of going outside the Jammu and Kashmir as full-fledged bench of the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) has been established at Military Station Sunjuwan and State High Court has identified about 425 cases, whose fate is hanging in balance during the past several years, for transfer to the Tribunal within shortest possible time.
The Government of India, in the second phase, has sanctioned two Regional Benches—one at Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh, which was notified on July 9, 2016 and the Srinagar bench at Jammu on November 17, 2016.
The official notification issued by Ministry of Defence under SRO-12 (E) reads: “In exercise of the powers conferred by Sub-Section 4 of Section 5 of the Armed Forces Tribunal Act, 2007, the Central Government notifies the bench of the Armed Forces Tribunal, Srinagar (temporarily to be located in Jammu) with effect from November 17, 2016, which shall have jurisdiction within the territorial limits of the State of Jammu and Kashmir”.
The establishment of full-fledged Regional Bench has mitigated the problems relating to long journey to Chandigarh faced by the armed forces personnel and their families. It is pertinent to mention here that besides the Principal Bench in New Delhi, Armed Forces Tribunal has Regional Benches at Chandigarh, Lucknow, Kolkata, Guwahati, Chennai, Kochi, Mumbai and Jaipur.
The full-fledged bench of AFT at Military Station Sunjuwan was inaugurated by Justice N Paul Vasanthak-umar, Chief Justice of J&K High Court. The ceremony was presided over by Justice B P Katakey, Officiating Chairperson, Armed Forces Tribunal New Delhi.
Justice B S Walia, Judge J&K High Court, Justice V K Shali, Judicial Member, Armed Forces Tribunal New Delhi, Vice-Admiral A G Thapliyal, Administrative Member Jammu Bench, Major General S K Sharma, General Officer Commanding Tiger Division, A K Kaul, Registrar General of J&K High Court, Sindhu Sharma, ASG J&K High Court, Arun Kheda, Principal Secretary to Officiating Chairman, G P Mogha, Principal Registrar AFT New Delhi and M Y Akhoon, Designate Presiding Officer for Food Safety Appellate Tribunal Kashmir, Director Judicial Academy and Judicial Officers were present on the occasion.
In his inaugural address on the occasion, Chief Justice N Paul Vasanthakumar said that as per the Armed Forces Tribunal Act, the Tribunal has been given original as well as appellate jurisdiction to decide grievances of the members of armed forces about their appointment, tenure, remuneration, seniority, promotion, superannuation and retiral benefits etc.
“The cases filed by the armed personnel, even during the year 2002 are pending in the High Court due to huge pendency of variety of cases”, he said, adding “I am sure that with by the establishment of this Tribunal, aggrieved defence persons will get speedy justice with the cooperation of advocates specialized on service laws”.
He disclosed that the Registry of the High Court has identified about 425 cases (writ petitions) pending before both the wings of the High Court filed by the armed forces personnel, which are pending over several years and steps will be taken to transfer these cases in compliance to Section 34 of the Armed Forces Tribunal Act, 2007.
“The Armed Forces Tribunal is a substitute to the High Court and the Tribunal is vested with powers like civil court with respect to summoning of witnesses, production of documents and recording of evidence. It is also empowered to reappraise facts and evidence while deciding validity of Court Martial orders. It is also vested with power to punish for contempt up to three years imprisonment”, Justice Vasanthakumar said.
Stating that defence personnel are guarding the country from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, handling situations during natural disasters as well as during internal disturbances, the Chief Justice said, “we have experienced their courage and conviction by helping the flood victims during September 2014 in this State and December 2015 in Tamil Nadu”, adding “many of them posted in this State are hailing from various parts of the country. Even for redressing their genuine grievances they approached the courts having jurisdiction in far off places. Therefore, the Government of India though it fit to establish a separate judicial establishment to be approached by the persons belonging to armed forces to seek justice”.
“Access to justice is a fundamental right guaranteed under the Constitution of India which includes affordable and speedy justice. With the establishment of this Armed Forces Tribunal, access to justice has been made easier and timely justice made possible”, Chief Justice said.
“While considering the cases as a Judge, I could notice that under the guise of maintaining discipline, persons committing even minor delinquencies are dealt with very seriously and extreme punishment of dismissal is being imposed ignoring their long years of service, sometime by ignoring the principle of natural justice and the mandatory procedures provided under rules”, he said, adding “proportionality of punishment is one of the cardinal principles to be borne in mind by disciplinary authority as well as appellate authority. If extreme punishment is imposed for minor delinquency, same would be treated as arbitrary exercise of power”.
He further said: “Officers of Armed Forces are also expected to bear in mind the Constitutional principles, procedural safeguards and settled principles of law declared by the Supreme Court in various decisions while dealing with disciplinary matters. If punishment imposed is found excessive, power is vested to this Tribunal to go into the issue of proportionality of punishment and it can reduce/modify the punishment depending on the facts of each case”.
“One other factor noticed is that the appellate authority while deciding the appeal filed against the orders of punishment is not recording reasons for affirming the order of the disciplinary authority in most of the cases. This action of the appellate authority is causing inconvenience to the Courts/ Tribunals to decide the matters, as it is a settled principle of law that a quasi judicial authority passing orders must record reasons, as the order is expected to be challenged before the court of law/ Tribunal”, Chief Justice said.
“Another important issue noticed is, while considering the claim of disability pension to discharged personnel on medical grounds routine orders of rejection are being passed in spite of various judgments rendered by the Supreme Court. The officials must deal with such issue by sensitiveness and compassion. Due to erroneous orders passed, cases are piling up in Tribunals/Courts”, Justice Vasanthakumar said.
He thanked the efforts of Jang Bahadur Singh Jamwal, former Registrar of the Bench for his sincere and dedicated efforts to find the present building to house bench of the AFT. He worked like a one man army with no infrastructure except the support of the local Army Station Commander and his dedicated staff.
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