SARWAN SINGH LAMBA Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These appeals and the special leave petition are directed against the judgment of the High court of Madhya Pradesh dated 29/7/1993 whereby the High court has quashed the appointment of Shri R. P. Kapur (appellant in CA No. 5061 of 1993 as Vice-Chairman of the Madhya Pradesh Stateadministrative tribunal (hereinafter referred to as 'the tribunal') and S/shri Sarwan Singh Lamba, Girija Shanker Patel, P. M. Rajwade and Dr Narinder Nath Veermani (appellants in CA No. 5061 of 1993 as members of the tribunal. The tribunal was constituted under the provisions of the Administrative TRIBUNALS Act, 1985 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act') on 29/7/1988. It consists of the Chairman, the Vice-Chairman and the judicial as well as administrative members. The seat of the tribunal is at Jabalpur and it has benches at Gwalior, Indore and Bhopal. Shri R. P. Kapur was appointed as Vice-Chairman of the tribunal by order dated 28/8/1991 and the four members aforementioned were appointed as the members of the tribunal by order dated 27/5/1991. A writ petition was filed in the High court of Madhya Pradesh challenging the said appointments which has been allowed by the High court by the impugned judgment.

(2.) The Act has been enacted in exercise of the power conferred by clause (1 of Article 323-A of the Constitution which was introduced in the Constitution by the Constitution (Forty-second Amendment) Act, 1976. The said clause empowers Parliament to provide, by law, for adjudication or trial by administrative TRIBUNALS of disputes and complaints with respect to recruitment and conditions of service of persons appointed to public services and posts in connection with the affairs of the Union or of any State or of any local or other authority within the territory of India or under the control of the government of India or of any corporation owned or controlled by the government. In sub-clause (d) of clause (2 of Article 323-A, it is provided that a law made under clause (1 may exclude the jurisdiction of all courts, except the jurisdiction of the Supreme court under Article 136, with respect to the disputes or complaints referred to in clause (1. The Act, in Section 28, provides for exclusion of the jurisdiction vested in the High courts under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution in respect of service matters specified in Section 28 of the Act.

(3.) The constitutional validity of the various provisions of the Act was considered by a Constitution bench of this court in S. P. Sampath Kumar v. Union of India. It was argued that the exclusion of the jurisdiction vested in the High courts under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution in respect of service matters and vesting of such jurisdiction in the Administrative TRIBUNALS constituted under the Act was destructive of the power of judicial review which is a basic and essential feature of the Constitution. While dealing with the said contention Misra, J. (as the learned chief justice then was) , who delivered the main judgment, has observed :