Kerala High Court
State Of Kerala vs P.N.Saji on 19 November, 2021
Author: Alexander Thomas
Bench: Alexander Thomas
OP(KAT) No.285/2021 1 / 11
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM
PRESENT
THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE ALEXANDER THOMAS
&
THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE VIJU ABRAHAM
Friday, the 19th day of November 2021 / 28th Karthika, 1943
OP(KAT) NO. 285 OF 2021
(AGAINST THE ORDER DATED 30.07.2019 IN OA NO. 1862/2016 OF THE KERALA
ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM)
PETITIONERS/RESPONDENTS 1 TO 3 IN O.A:
1. STATE OF KERALA REPRESENTED BY THE ADDITIONAL CHIEF
SECRETARY IN CHARGE OF HOME & VIGILANCE, GOVERNMENT OF
KERALA, SECRETARIAT, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM - 695001, KERALA.
2. ADDITIONAL CHIEF SECRETARY, HOME & VIGILANCE & CONVENER OF
DPC (HIGHER) FOR POLICE DEPARTMENT, GOVERNMENT OF KERALA,
SECRETARIAT, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM - 695001, KERALA.
3. STATE POLICE CHIEF, POLICE HEAD QUARTERS, VELLAYAMBALAM,
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM - 695010, KERALA
RESPONDENT/ APPLICANT IN O.A:
P.N.SAJI, AGED 61 YEARS, S/O. NARAYANAN, ASSISTANT
COMMANDANT, KERALA ARMED POLICE 2ND BATTALION,
MUTTIKULANGARA P.O, PALAKKAD, PIN - 678594, CURRENTLY
RESIDING AT ANIYARA PULICKAL HOUSE, KARUKACHAL P.O,
KOTTAYAM, KERALA - 686540.
OP(KAT) praying inter alia that in the circumstances stated
in the affidavit filed along with the OP(KAT) the High Court be
pleased to stay the operation and implementation of Exhibit P4
order and Ext. P14 and P16 orders of the Kerala Administrative
Tribunal pending disposal of the Original Petition (KAT).
This petition again coming on for orders on 19-11-2021 upon
perusing the petition and the affidavit filed in support of
OP(KAT) and this court's order dated 27-10-2021 and upon hearing
the arguments of the ADVOCATE GENERAL,Sri. ASOK.M.CHERIYAN,
ADDITIONAL ADVOCATE GENERAL,and the SENIOR GOVERNMENT PLEADER
for the petitioners and of M/S S.VIJAYAN, V.PRINCE DEV, JINSON
OUSEPH, CHITRA VIJAYAN, Advocates for the respondent, the court
passed the following:
OP(KAT) No.285/2021 2 / 11
ALEXANDER THOMAS & VIJU ABRAHAM, JJ.
============================================
OP(KAT) No. 285 of 2021
[arising out of the impugned order dated 30.7.2019 in
O.A.No. 1862/2016 on the file of the KAT, Thiruvananthapuram Bench]
=============================================
Dated this the 19th day of November, 2021
ORDER
Read this order in continuance of this Court's order dated 27.10.2021.
2. The Registry of this Court has informed that the Registry of the Kerala Administrative Tribunal, Thiruvananthapuram Bench, has given a comprehensive list of various Contempt cases which are pending before the Tribunal as required in this Court's order dated 27.10.2021 in this case.
3. From the materials it is seen that there are various Contempt petitions now pending before the Tribunal even in cases where no stay has been granted by this Court in OP(KAT)s or where not even an OP(KAT) has been filed by the respondent departmental authorities concerned who have suffered adverse verdicts and which is the subject matter of the Contempt proceedings.
4. Sri.Ashok M.Cherian, learned Additional Advocate General instructed by Sri.Antony Mukkath, learned Senior Government Pleader appearing for the State authorities would submit that they have also received copy of the list furnished by the OP(KAT) No.285/2021 3 / 11 OP(KAT) No. 285 of 2021 ..2..
Registry of the Tribunal, and further that the office of the Advocate General has also received a list from the law officers appearing for the State in the cases before the Tribunal that as of now, they could roughly identify about 110 cases in which compliance report has already been received, etc.
5. We had earlier suggested on the previous occasion to the learned Additional Advocate General that the learned Advocate General, the State authorities and the other authorities concerned may seriously take steps for constituting a special committee which may be under the chairmanship of the learned Additional Advocate General and consisting of the Law Secretary, the State Attorney, a Senior Government Pleader of this Court & a senior officer of the Law Department nominated by the Law Secretary and such other senior officers who may be co-opted by the government departments concerned wherever steps are contemplated for considering compliance in cases in which adverse verdicts have been suffered by such departmental authorities concerned, etc.
6. Taking note of the seriousness of the issue, especially as large number of Contempt cases are now pending before the OP(KAT) No.285/2021 4 / 11 OP(KAT) No. 285 of 2021 ..3..
Tribunal, and to ensure that the majesty of the rule of law is upheld, and also to instill confidence in the public who have secured verdicts from the Tribunal, it is only appropriate that further steps are taken by such committee, so that a co-ordinated and synergistic approach is taken with the departmental authorities, based on such advices and instructions that may be given by the committee as approved by the learned Advocate General. Hence, a special committee will be constituted in which Sri.Ashok M.Cherian, learned Additional Advocate General will be the Chairman and the Law Secretary, Sri.N.Manoj Kumar, the State Attorney, Sri.Antony Mukkath, learned Senior Government Pleader of this Court, a senior officer of the Law Department nominated by the Law Secretary and such other officers of the departments concerned who may be either co-opted or allowed to be participate in the process of committee's evaluation depending upon the department concerned, for which compliance action is contemplated, etc.
7. We make it clear that this is only to ensure that immediate remedial measures is taken to arrest the alarming trend in non compliance of various verdicts of the Tribunal though it has been OP(KAT) No.285/2021 5 / 11 OP(KAT) No. 285 of 2021 ..4..
issued long ago. At the end of the day, it is fully within the discretion and province of the learned Advocate General, who is the Constitutionally designated principal legal advisor of the State, and the governmental authorities concerned to act in tandem, so that this alarming trend is dealt with efficaciously, so that due deference is shown to the adjudication process of the Tribunal, which is a high powered adjudicatory body constituted as envisaged in Article 323A of the Constitution of India, read with the provisions contained in The Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985.
8. It is by now well established with the celebrated decision of the Constitution Bench of the Apex Court in the case in L.Chandra Kumar v. Union of India & others [(1997) 3 SCC 261] that though, complete ouster of judicial review jurisdiction from the various High Courts as vested with them in terms of Article 226 of the Constitution of India, even on the basis of a Constitutional Amendment, is ultra vires the Basic Structure doctrine. Still, the Tribunal is the Court of first instance, as far as exercise of plenary powers under Article 226 of the Constitution of India in the designated province, and the Division Bench of this Court is to OP(KAT) No.285/2021 6 / 11 OP(KAT) No. 285 of 2021 ..5..
exercise jurisdiction under Articles 226 and/or 227 of the Constitution of India, by way of judicial review and superintendence, etc. Accordingly, the learned Advocate General is requested to take necessary steps to ensure that abovesaid special committee under the chairmanship of the learned Additional Advocate General will immediately deal with the aspects to resolve cases atleast where compliance can be easily effectuated without any further delay.
9. The total number of cases given in the list furnished by the Registry of the Kerala Administrative Tribunal is around 362 cases in the Thiruvananthapuram Bench of the Tribunal and the number of such contempt cases pending before the Ernakulam Bench of the Tribunal is around 331. These figures are certainly quite alarming taking into account the overall limited number of cases that is being adjudicated by the Tribunal. Hence, we would request that the learned Advocate General and the authorities concerned will bestow their anxious consideration without any further delay, so that the abovesaid committee could act in tandem with the government departmental offices and various other subordinate departments concerned, so that a synergistic, symbiotic and proactive efforts are OP(KAT) No.285/2021 7 / 11 OP(KAT) No. 285 of 2021 ..6..
taken on a very emergent basis, to ensure that due deference is given to the verdicts of the Tribunal to the extent possible. First priority should be given to cases where no OP(KAT) has been filed in spite of adverse verdict of the Tribunal. So also, further appropriate steps may also be contemplated in cases where OP(KAT) filed before this Court, but no stay have been granted, etc. Fined tuned aspects as to whether the State or departmental authorities have filed OP(KAT)s in the O.A.s concerned, or whether any contesting respondents in the O.A.s have preferred any OP(KAT) before this Court, etc may also be meticulously examined. Such meticulous examination would certainly require a special committee, and this is yet another aspect which impels us to issue the abovesaid directions.
10. The instructions and advices that may be given by the special committee after getting the approval of the learned Advocate General, may be intimated to the law officers appearing for the State before the two Benches of the Tribunal, and in that regard, Sri.Antony Mukkath, learned Senior Government Pleader may take necessary steps to co-ordinate as the interface between the special committee and the law officers appearing for the State before the two OP(KAT) No.285/2021 8 / 11 OP(KAT) No. 285 of 2021 ..7..
Benches of the Tribunal. The mode of interaction/meeting of the special committee may be designed appropriately by the learned Additional Advocate General based on the views of the learned Advocate General, the Law Secretary, and the government departmental functionaries, etc and since, most of the senior officers are now placed in Ernakulam, and almost all the government offices will be functioning from Thiruvananthapuram, the mode of video conferencing may be properly contemplated, so that much time and effort could be saved. We say so, as otherwise, the time and resources of the senior officers who are functioning in Ernakulam, as well as that of the senior government officers at Thiruvananthapuram, may also be issues that may stand in the way of effective and timely meeting and co-ordination of the committee, etc.
11. The cases which could be easily complied with may be immediately identified by the special committee, and after getting the due approval of the learned Advocate General, and after due co-ordination with the government departmental authorities concerned, the special committee may ensure that a detailed report regarding such cases may be filed before the Bench concerned of the OP(KAT) No.285/2021 9 / 11 OP(KAT) No. 285 of 2021 ..8..
Tribunal, through the law officers concerned, so that the Tribunal can also take further action in that regard, especially if compliance report could be filed and the same could be considered by the Tribunal for resolution of matters raised in such pending contempt petitions.
12. After filing of such reports, we would also request the Hon'ble Chairman of the Tribunal to consider whether some special sitting of the designated bench of the Tribunal would be feasible, so that effective steps could be taken based on follow-up action that may be effectuated as above, atleast in cases where compliance report could be filed by the State/departmental authorities concerned.
13. The comprehensive list of pending contempt petitions now prepared by the law officers of the Tribunal and furnished to the office of the Advocate General, may also be appropriately conveyed to the Tribunal, so that the Registry officials of the Tribunal can also ascertain as to the details of such cases that are included in the list prepared by the law officers, in comparison with the list that has already been furnished by the Registry of the two Benches of the Tribunal, etc.
14. The Registry will forward a copy of this order to the OP(KAT) No.285/2021 10 / 11 OP(KAT) No. 285 of 2021 ..9..
Registrar of the Kerala Administrative Tribunal, for necessary information.
List the case on 17.12.2021.
Hand over to both sides.
Sd/-
ALEXANDER THOMAS, JUDGE Sd/-
VIJU ABRAHAM, JUDGE
MMG
19-11-2021 /True Copy/ Assistant Registrar
OP(KAT) No.285/2021 11 / 11
APPENDIX OF OP(KAT) 285/2021
Exhibit P4 A PHOTOCOPY OF THE ORDER DATED 30.07.2019 IN
O.A. NO.1862/2016.
EXHIBIT P14 A PHOTOCOPY OF THE ORDER DATED 20.07.2021 IN
CONTEMPT PETITION NO. 43/2020
EXHIBIT P16 A PHOTOCOPY OF THE ORDER DATED 16-09-2021 IN
C.P. NO.43/2020