The Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985

1[1. Short title, extent and commencement.--(1) This Act may be called the AdministrativeTribunals Act, 1985. (2) It extends,-- (a) in so far as it relates to the Central Administrative Tribunal, to the whole of India; 2* * * * * (3) The provisions of this Act, in so far as they relate to the Central Administrative Tribunal, shallcome into force on such date3as the Central Government may, by notification, appoint. (4) The provisions of this Act, in so far as they relate to an Administrative Tribunal for a State, shallcome into force in a State on such date as the Central Government may, by notification, appoint.]

The provisions of this Act shall not apply to-- (a) any member of the naval, military or air forces or of any other armed forces of the Union; 1* * * * * (c) any officer or servant of the Supreme Court or of any High Court 2[or courts subordinatethereto]; (d) any person appointed to the secretarial staff of either House of Parliament or to the secretarialstaff of any State Legislature or a House thereof or, in the case of a Union territory having aLegislature, of that Legislature.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-- 1[(a) "Administrative Member" means a Member of a Tribunal who is not a Judicial Memberwithin the meaning of clause (i);] 2[(aa)] "Administrative Tribunal", in relation to a State, means the Administrative Tribunal forthe State or, as the case may be, the Joint Administrative Tribunal for that State and any other State orStates; (b) "application" means an application made under section 19; (c) "appointed day", in relation to a Tribunal, means the date with effect from which it isestablished, by notification, under section 4; (d) "appropriate Government" means,-- (i) in relation to the Central Administrative Tribunal or a Joint Administrative Tribunal, theCentral Government; (ii) in relation to a State Administrative Tribunal, the State Government; (e) "Bench" means a Bench of a Tribunal; (f) "Central Administrative Tribunal" means the Administrative Tribunal established undersub-section (1) of section 4; (g) "Chairman" means the Chairman of a Tribunal; (h) "Joint Administrative Tribunal" means an Administrative Tribunal for two or more Statesestablished under sub-section (3) of section 4; 3[(i) "Judicial Member" means a Member of a Tribunal appointed as such under this Act, andincludes 4[the Chairman] who possesses any of the qualifications specified in sub-section (3) ofsection 6; (ia) "Member" means a Member (whether Judicial or Administrative) of a Tribunal, and includesthe Chairman 5***;] (j) "notification" means a notification published in the Official Gazette; (k) "post" means a post within or outside India; (l) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act; (m) "President" means the President of India; 6* * * * * (o) "rules" means rules made under this Act; (p) "service" means service within or outside India; (q) "service matters", in relation to a person, means all matters relating to the conditions of his servicein connection with the affairs of the Union or of any State or of any local or other authority within theterritory of India or under the control of the Government of India, or, as the case may be, of anycorporation 7[or society] owned or controlled by the Government, as respects-- (i) remuneration (including allowances), pension and other retirement benefits; (ii) tenure including confirmation, seniority, promotion, reversion, premature retirement andsuperannuation; (iii) leave of any kind; (iv) disciplinary matters; or (v) any other matter whatsoever; (r) "service rules as to redressal of grievances", in relation to any matter, means the rules, regulations,orders or other instruments or arrangements as in force for the time being with respect to redressal,otherwise than under this Act, of any grievances in relation to such matters; 8[(rr) "society" means a society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 (21 of 1860), orunder any corresponding law for the time being in force in a State;] (s) "Supreme Court" means the Supreme Court of India; (t) "Tribunal" means the Central Administrative Tribunal or a State Administrative Tribunal or a JointAdministrative Tribunal; 9[(u) "Vice-Chairman" means a Member who has been authorised by the appropriate Government toperform administrative functions at each of the places where Benches of the Tribunal have been set up. Explanation.--In the case of a Tribunal having two or more Vice-Chairmen, references to theVice-Chairman in this Act shall be construed as a reference to each of those Vice-Chairmen.

(1) The Central Government shall, by notification,establish an Administrative Tribunal, to be known as the Central Administrative Tribunal, to exercise thejurisdiction, powers and authority conferred on the Central Administrative Tribunal by or under this Act. (2) The Central Government may, on receipt of a request in this behalf from any State Government,establish, by notification, an Administrative Tribunal for the State to be known as the.......(name of theState) Administrative Tribunal to exercise the jurisdiction, powers and authority conferred on theAdministrative Tribunal for the State by or under this Act. (3) Two or more States may, notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (2) andnotwithstanding that any or all of those States has or have Tribunals established under thatsub-section, enter into an agreement that the same Administrative Tribunal shall be the AdministrativeTribunal for each of the States participating in the agreement, and if the agreement is approved by theCentral Government and published in the Gazette of India and the Official Gazette of each of those States,the Central Government may, by notification, establish a Joint Administrative Tribunal to exercise thejurisdiction, powers and authority conferred on the Administrative Tribunals for those States by or underthis Act. (4) An agreement under sub-section (3) shall contain provisions as to the name of the JointAdministrative Tribunal, the manner in which the participating States may be associated in the selectionof the 1[Chairman and other Members] of the Joint Administrative Tribunal, the places at which theBench or Benches of the Tribunal shall sit, the apportionment among the participating States of theexpenditure in connection with the Joint Administrative Tribunal and may also contain such othersupplemental, incidental and consequential provisions not inconsistent with this Act as may be deemednecessary or expedient for giving effect to the agreement. 2[(5) Notwithstanding anything contained in the foregoing provisions of this section or sub-section (1)of section 5, the Central Government may,-- (a) with the concurrence of any State Government, designate, by notification, all or any of theMembers of the Bench or Benches of the State Administrative Tribunal established for that Stateunder sub-section (2) as Members of the Bench or Benches of the Central Administrative Tribunal inrespect of that State and the same shall exercise the jurisdiction, powers and authority conferred onthe Central Administrative Tribunal by or under this Act; (b) on receipt of a request in this behalf from any State Government, designate, by notification,all or any of the Members of the Bench or Benches of the Central Administrative Tribunalfunctioning in that State as the Members of the Bench or Benches of the State Administrative Tribunal for that State and the same shall exercise the jurisdiction, powers and authority conferred onthe Administrative Tribunal for that State by or under this Act, and upon such designation, the Bench or Benches of the State Administrative Tribunal or, as the case maybe, the Bench or Benches of the Central Administrative Tribunal shall be deemed, in all respects, to be theCentral Administrative Tribunal, or the State Administrative Tribunal for that State established under theprovisions of article 323A of the Constitution and this Act. (6) Every notification under sub-section (5) shall also provide for the apportionment between theState concerned and the Central Government of the expenditure in connection with the Members commonto the Central Administrative Tribunal and the State Administrative Tribunal and such other incidentaland consequential provisions not inconsistent with this Act as may be deemed necessary or expedient.]

(1) Each Tribunal shall consist of1[a Chairman and such number of Judicial and Administrative Members] as the appropriate Governmentmay deem fit and, subject to the other provisions of this Act, the jurisdiction, powers and authority of theTribunal may be exercised by Benches thereof. 2[(2) Subject to the other provisions of this Act, a Bench shall consist of one Judicial Member and oneAdministrative Member.] 3* * * * * (4) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), 4*** the Chairman-- 5[(a) may, in addition to discharging the functions of the Judicial Member or the AdministrativeMember of the Bench to which he is appointed, discharge the functions of the Judicial Member or, asthe case may be, the Administrative Member, of any other Bench;] (b) may transfer 6[a Member] from one Bench to another Bench; 7[(c) may authorise 8[the Judicial Member] or the Administrative Member appointed to one BenchBench to discharge also the functions of 9[the Judicial Member or the Administrative Member, as thecase may be] of another Bench; and] (d) may, for the purpose of securing that any case or cases which, having regard to the nature ofthe questions involved, requires or require, in his opinion or under the rules made by the CentralGovernment in this behalf, to be decided by a Bench composed of more than 10[two members], issuesuch general or special orders, as he may deem fit. 11[Provided that every Bench constituted in pursuance of this clause shall include at least one JudicialMember and one Administrative Member.] 12* * * * * (6) Notwithstanding anything contained in the foregoing provisions of this section, it shall becompetent for the Chairman or any other Member authorised by the Chairman in this behalf to function as13[a Bench] consisting of a single Member and exercise the jurisdiction, powers and authority of the Tribunal in respect of such classes of cases or such matters pertaining to such classes of cases as theChairman may by general or special order specify: Provided that if at any stage of the hearing of any such case or matter it appears to the Chairman orsuch Member that the case or matter is of such a nature that it ought to be heard by a Bench consisting of14[two members], the case or matter may be transferred by the Chairman or, as the case may be, referred toto him for transfer to, such Bench as the Chairman may deem fit. 15[(7) Subject to the other provisions of this Act, the Benches of the Central Administrative Tribunalshall ordinarily sit at New Delhi (which shall be known as the principal Bench), Allahabad, Calcutta,Madras, New Bombay and at such other places as the Central Government may, by notification, specify. (8) Subject to the other provisions of this Act, the places at which the principal Bench and otherBenches of a State Administrative Tribunal shall ordinarily sit shall be such as the State Governmentmay, by notification, specify.]