STATE TIMES NEWS
NEW DELHI: Newly appointed Chairman of Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), Justice Ranjit Vasantrao More called on Union Minister, Dr Jitendra Singh, who is also Minister Incharge DoPT which is the administrative Ministry for CAT.
This was Justice More’s first meeting with Dr Jitendra after he took over charge of office.
During the meeting, Dr Jitendra pointed out that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the CAT had achieved a disposal rate of around 91% in five years and there continues to be a steady rise in the disposal of cases.
Justice More discussed the modalities to achieve almost zero pendency of cases.
He said, everyone acknowledged that the present Government is committed to Transparency and “Justice for All” and the people-friendly reforms taken in the last eight years have benefitted the entire country.
Dr Jitendra said that over 91 percent disposal rate was achieved from 2015 to 2019 under Modi Government, while it was around 89 percent from 2010 to 2014, during the UPA regime.
During the pandemic situation in 2020 and 2021, a total of 55,567 cases were instituted. Despite the adverse situation, about 30,011 cases were disposed of, with a disposal percentage of 54. In 2021 the disposal rate was 58.6 percent and this was despite the fact that around 18,845 old pending cases of Jammu &Kashmir High Court were transferred to the Jammu Bench of CAT.
Dr Jitendra Singh also recalled that after the conversion of the State of Jammu & Kashmir into Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, 02 Benches of CAT were established, at Jammu and Srinagar vide notification dated 28.05.2020 for the service matters of employees of Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh. Jammu Bench was made functional with effect from 08.06.2020, whereas Srinagar Bench was inaugurated by the Minister himself on 23.11.2021.
Administrative Tribunal (CAT) was constituted on 01.11.1985 under the ‘The Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985’ for adjudication of grievances and disputes arising out of the conditions of service of an employee appointed to the public services and posts in connection with the affairs of the Union. CAT has 19 regular Benches, 17 of which operate at the principal seats of High Courts and the remaining two at Jaipur and Lucknow.
Out of 19 Benches, 09 Benches have been working from their own buildings and 07 Benches have been working from the space provided by the CPWD in GPOA and 03 in rented buildings.