UNION OF INDIA Vs. HASMUKHBHAI HIRABHAI RANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Leave granted.

(2.) Appellants call in question legality of the judgment rendered by a Division Bench of the Gujarat High Court dismissing the writ petition filed by the appellants-Union of India and its functionaries. The orders passed by the Central Administrative Tribunal, Ahmedabad Bench (in short the CAT) in the Original Application No. 170 of 1997 and Review Application No. 32 of 2003 were upheld. The only issue which was raised by the Union of India was that CAT was not justified in holding that the order of dismissal was passed by an authority lower in rank than the appointing authority.

(3.) The factual position in a nutshell is as follows: