Haryana govt notifies setting up of state administrative tribunal at Panchkula

Chandigarh: The Haryana government has finally notified the constitution of the principal bench of the state administrative tribunal (SAT) in Panchkula. As per the state’s notification issued by Haryana chief secretary Vijai Vardhan, the principal bench of the Haryana state administrative tribunal would be established in Panchkula and will have two courts.
Importantly, TOI was the first to report in July this year that the Haryana government would set up the state administrative tribunal in Panchkula.
The SAT would hear the grievances related to the service matters of the Haryana government employees. As of now, Haryana employees have to approach the Punjab and Haryana high court directly on these matters. The Haryana government had earlier proposed setting up the SAT at Karnal after which advocates practicing at the Punjab and Haryana high court had gone on a long strike to protest the decision.
The Haryana state tribunal would function on the lines of the central administrative tribunal (CAT), which hears service-related disputes of the central government employees. Importantly, a retired judge of the Punjab and Haryana high court was appointed in 2019 as the chairperson of the Haryana SAT. However, the tribunal has not functioned for the last two years because the Punjab & Haryana high court had deferred the implementation of the Centre’s notification on setting up of the Haryana tribunal.
The central government had issued a notification dated July 24, 2019, under Section 4(2) of the Administrative Tribunal Act, 1985, constituting the Haryana Administrative Tribunal for the service matters pertaining to the state government employees.
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This had led to an unprecedented situation where the members of the Punjab and Haryana high court bar association (HCBA) went on strike against the issuance of the notification and the functioning of the court remained paralysed for more than three weeks in July-August 2019.However, on August 2, 2019, the full bench of the high court had deferred the implementation of the central government’s notification regarding setting up of the tribunal. The HC bench had passed these orders while taking suo motu cognizance of the strike by advocates and on an application received from the HCBA.The Haryana government on August 13, 2019, had constituted a committee headed by the state chief secretary after the lawyers’ body sent a representation to chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar. The state chief secretary prepared a final report after hearing all the parties and the committee has already given its findings about the legality, viability and workability of the state administrative tribunal.