The Supreme Court on Monday stayed Uttarakhand High Court’s orders of setting aside the order of Central Administrative Tribunal chairman in which he transferred the case of 2002-batch Indian Forest Service officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi to the tribunal’s Delhi bench.
This comes after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta ‘vehemently’ submitted arguments before Court. ‘No one present from the respondent’s side’, informed the order copy of the Supreme Court on Wednesday.
The apex court also issued a notice to the officer. Tushar Mehta, solicitor general of India appeared for the Central government.
“Tushar Mehta, learned Solicitor General, has vehemently submitted that as the decision of the Chairman, Principal Bench, Central Administrative Tribunal, New Delhi was under challenge, the Uttarakhand High Court would have no territorial jurisdiction and only the Delhi High Court would have jurisdiction. It is submitted that the aforesaid was one of the grounds raised before the High However, the High Court has not properly dealt with and/or appreciated the same,” read the order copy.
In October 2021, the Uttarakhand High Court had set aside the Central Administrative Tribunal’s (CAT) principal bench order of transferring the case of Indian Forest Service officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi from the Nainital bench to the Delhi bench of CAT.
The High Court while dismissing the order of the principal bench transferring the petition called the impugned order ‘legally unsustainable’.
The bench comprising Chief justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice Narayan Singh Dhanik had said, “The impact of the policy decision deprives the petitioner’s right in the State of Uttarakhand. Therefore, a part of the cause of action arises in the State. Hence, the Nainital Circuit Bench does have the jurisdiction to hear the original application.”
IFS officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi had challenged the irregularities in the lateral entry of private experts at the Joint Secretary Level and a 360-degree appraisal policy of the central government. (ANI)
