EXECUTIVE ENGINEER TAMIL NADU WATER SUPPLY AND DRAINAGE BOARD MAINTENANCE DIVISION ERODE 11 Vs. P SUGUMAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) "Admit. Issue Rule Nisi. Interim stay. Call for the records in four weeks. Notice.

(2.) IN all these writ petitions, the petitioner Board which is a statutory body constituted under Tamil Nadu Act 4 of 1971 complains that the Tribunal has assumed jurisdiction even in the absence of a notification under Sec.15(2) of the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985, extending its jurisdiction to statutory Corporations.

(3.) THE Tribunal has no authority to extend its jurisdiction by ignoring any part of the Act, or by assuming authority to declare any provision of that Act as unconstitutional. No question of unconstitutionality, in fact, can arise in so far as the jurisdiction is concerned, as the very Article which confers authority on the Parliament to enact the law, itself provides that the law to be enacted may, among other things, specify the jurisdiction of the Tribunals. THE jurisdiction so specified is the jurisdiction which the Tribunal may validly exercise, unless further jurisdiction is conferred by amending the law, or by issuing notifications which the Act permits to be issued for the purpose of enlarging the jurisdiction of the Tribunal. THE Tribunal itself cannot direct the amendment of the Act, nor can it direct the issue of a notification for the purpose of enlarging it's own jurisdiction. THE Tribunal certainly has no competence whatever to declare a part of the law under which it is brought into existence, as invalid.