Cuttack: In a significant judgment, the Orissa High Court on Monday upheld the Centre’s decision on the abolition of State Administrative Tribunal (SAT).
The High Court rejected 6 petitions filed challenging the decision to abolish the Tribunal and cleared the case pending more than one and half years.
On 9 September, 2015, State Cabinet headed by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had decided to abolish the Odisha Administrative Tribunal after it felt that the very objective of the institution to give quick justice to employees could not be achieved.
Following this, the State Government had moved to Centre seeking its nod for scrapping the Tribunal after getting permission from the Orissa High Court.
On 2August , 2019, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) under the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions had issued a gazette notification for abolishing the SAT.
The Union Government abolished the SAT under Section- 4 (2) of Administrative Tribunal Act 1985 and Section-21 of General Clauses Act.
Few days after the notification, Cuttack SAT Bar Association filed a petition before the Orissa High Court challenging the decision of Union Government. Later, five other petitions were also filed before the court in this connection.
Established on 14 July, 1986 under the Administrative Tribunal Act (1985) to ensure quick delivery of justice, the SAT is headquartered in Bhubaneswar and has a regular bench in Cuttack apart from circuit benches in Sambalpur and Berhampur.
Over 70,000 cases pending in the Tribunal will be transferred to the High Court.
