Tribunal's abolition catches members unawares

Shimla, Jul 12 (UNI) The scrapping of Himachal Pradesh Administrative Tribunal retrospectively from July 8 has come as a surprise even to the members of the tribunal.

The Tribunal's administrative member Vijay Pal Singh said that he came to know about it from the press and had not seen the related notification or any order of the Government.

The administrative tribunals were established in eight states under the Administrative Tribunals Act, which was amended in 2006, to pave for its abolition, if the state concerned so desired.

Himachal, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu had made request to the Centre for abolition of the Tribunal and the Centre issued a notification, cancelling the original notification under which the Tribunal was set up.

Following the abolition of the Tribunal, the Chairman, Vice Chairman and members would cease to hold office.

However, in Himachal the post of Chairman and Vice Chairman had fallen vacant in June last year and only two administrative members, Mr Vijay Pal Singh and B S Chauhan were in position.

Both these members had sought premature retirement from government service for joining as member of the Tribunal. Mr Vijay Pal was a senior IPS officer in the rank of Inspector General, while Mr B S Chauhan was an IAS officer in the rank of Secretary.

As per the provisions of the Act, they would be entitled to compensation up to the date of their superannuation .

The state government would notify the proposal for transfer of cases pending in the Tribunal and the staff of the Tribunal, on deputation, would be reverted back to the parent department, while the regular staff would be adjusted suitably.

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