The Assam Administrative Tribunal Act, 1977

The Assam Gazette S lT W r a 'I EXT RAORDIN ARY sn$-<P3f'g ̂ sret sranPra PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY 62, cWifa, 2 a 1977, 12 1899 No, 62, Dispar , M on da y, 2nd May , 1977, 12th Va lsa kh a, 1899 (S. E.) GO VE RN MEN T OF AS SA M ORD ERS BY THE GOVERNOR LE GIS LA TI VE DE PA RT MEN T NO TI FICA TI ON The 2nd May 1977 No.LJL.93/7G/77.—The following Act of the Assam Legislative Assembly which received the assent of the President is hereby published for general information. , 316 TH E AS SA M GA ZE TT E, EXTP AO RD INAR Y, MAY 2. 1977 ASSA M ACT VIII OF 1977 (R ec ei ve d th e as se nt o f th e P resi d en t o f In dia cn 2n d M ay 1977) THE ASSAM AD MINISTR AT IVE TR IBUN AL A CT, 1977 An Act Pr ea m bl e. to provide fo r the con stitution o f a Tribunal to adjud ica te disputes in respec t of cer tain conditio ns of service of cer tain classes of Civil servan ts of the Sta te. It is hereby enacted in the Twenty-ei ghth year of the Rep ubl ic of India as follows:— Sh or t tit le, 1- (1) This Ac t ma y be called the Assam Adm inis trat ive ex ten t and T ri bunal A ct , 1977. com me nce- m en t> (2) It shall extend to the who le of Assam. (3) It shall be deemed to have come, into force on the Th ird day of Ja nu ary, 1977. Defini tion s. 2 . In this Act, unless the con text othe rwise requ ire s:— (a) ‘Cha irm an’ means the Ch airm an of the Tribunal ; (b) ‘Civil servan t’ mea ns a person who is or has been a member of a civil service or who holds or has held a civil post in con nection with the affa irs of the Sta te of Assam and includes any such perso n on foreign service , a person whose services have been tem porarily pla ced at the disposa l of a loca l or oth er au tho rity, any person in the service of a l ocal or oth er au tho rity whose services have been temporar ily p laced at the disposal of the Sta te Government , a person in service under the Sta te Governme nt oq a co ntr ac t and a perso n who has re tir ed from the Gover nment service elsewhere and has been re-em ployed under the Sta te Governm ent bu t does no t include employees of the Ga uhati High Co urt , employees of the Assam Leg is­ lative Assembly Secre tar iat , employees of the Assam Publ ic Service Commission, persons in the All India Service and other Civil services of the India n Union , or persons of Civil services of oth er Sta te Govern­ ment serving on deputat ion in Assam ; TH E AS SA M GA ZE TT E, EX TR AO RD INAR Y, MA Y 2, 1977 317 (c) ‘civil services’ mea ns the civil services of the Sta te of Assam and such othe r services as may be speci­ fied by the Stat* Government from time to time by noti fica tion , bu t shall no t include— (i) services un de r the Ga uhati Hig h Court ; (ii) service* unde” the Assam Legislativ e Assem bly ; (iii) services under the Assam Public Service Gommi*- »ion ; (iv) All Ind ia Services and other civil services of the India n Un ion ; (d) ‘competent au tho rity’ means any officer or other au tho rity hav ing power to pass any orde r whe ther orig inal , app ella te or rev iiio nal, under any service ru le, executive in»t ruction or orde r, gene ral or special, of the Sta te Government in regpect of any con­ dition* of services of a civil »ervant; (e) ‘condition* of »ervice’ includes all mat ter* rela ting to the— (i) appointme nt, seniority, conf irma tion and termina­ tion of service of a civil se rv an t; » (ii) censure , withholding of increments or pro motion , recovery from pay of any los* to the Government , redu ctio n to a lower service, grade or post, or to a lowe r time scale, or to a low er stage in a time scale, den ial or va ria tion of pension or den ial of the max imum pension; (f) ‘mem ber’ means a mem ber of the Tr ibu na l and in­ clude* the Cha irman; (g) ‘notific ation’ means a notification published in the As«am Ga zette ; (h) ‘pres cribed’ means prescr ibed by rules made under this Act; (i) ‘State Gover nment ’ mea ns the Governme nt of Asgam; (j) ‘Trib unal’ means the Assam Adm inis trat ive Tribunal constituted unde r Section 3 of this Act. j iio°nofthe 3- U) The Sta te Gov ernment shal l constitu te for the State T ribu na l, of Assam a Tr ibu na l to be known as the Assam Ad minis­ tra tive Tr ibu na l. (2) The Tribunal shall consist of thr ee members to be appoint ed by the State Governm ent. 318 TH E ASSAM GA ZETTE, EXTR AORD IN ARY, M .\Y 2, 1977 (3) The Sta te Governm ent shall appo int one of the mem bers of the Tr ibun al to act as the Chairma n thereof. (4) The Chairma n shall be a person who at the time of app oin tment to the Trib una l is a senior adminis tra tor with wide exper ience and of the oth er two members, one shal l have exper ience in legal affairs and the oth er shall have expe rience in technica l ma tte rs, none being low er in the ran k tha n Secre tary to the Sta te Gov ernmen t. (5) No per son shall be reta ined as a mem ber of the Tribunal afte r he has attain ed the age of sixty years. (6) Th e salary and allowances of the members of the Tribunal shall be such as may be prescribed . (7) Th e principal seat of the Tr ibu na l shall be at Gauhati bu t the Tr ibu na l may also sit at such oth er place or places as the C hairm an may, from time to time, specify. JurMietion. 4. (1) Save as otherwise expressly pro vided in sub-section (2) below the Tribunal shall have jur isd iction to enterta in and dispose of appeals pref erred by civil servants again st any ord er passed by a com petent authority in respect of any cond ition of service. (2) No twithstanding any thin g con tained in sub-section (1) above, the T ribunal shall have no juri sdiction with respect to any or de r passed, when the civil servan t has no t availed of all the remedies ava ilab le to him under the relevant service rule s, executive inst ruct ions or orde rs : Pro vided th at notwithstanding any thin g con tained in the above pa rag rap h the T ribunal ma y en ter tai n an app eal from a civil servan t, if any app eal , revision peti tion or repr esenta ­ tio n filed by him under the relevant service rules before the com petent au tho rity has no t been finally disposed of by the com petent au thor ity with in a per iod of six months from the dale of filing such app eal , revision petiti on o r representatio n. (3) No twith sta nd ing any thin g con tain ed in sub-section (1) above, the Tribun al shall have no jur isd ict ion to en ter ­ ta in an d dispose of appeals aga inst any ord er pas sed by a com petent au thor ity u nde r Art icle 311 (2) provisos (a), (b) and (c) as also under F. R. 56 (b ). tamitatjon*'' 5. No appeal sha ll lie to the T rib un al after the expiry of 60 da ys from the da te of the orde r appeale d aga inst : Provide d that the Tr ibu na l may en ter tain an app eal after the expiry of sixty days fro m the date of pass ing the or de r if the Tribunal is satisfied th at the Civil servant was preven ted by any sufficient cause from pref err ing the ap pe al within the afs resaid perio d. TH E AS SA M GA ZE TT E EX TR AO RD INAR Y, MAY 2 , 1977 319 Powers of the 6. The Tr ibu nal shall, for the purpo se of the disposal Tr ibun *. Qf a n a pp e a j have all the powers of a civil cou rt for the trial of a suit unde r the Code of Civil Procedure , 1908 (5 of 1908) in respect of the following ma tte rs, namely :— (a) summoning and enforcing the atte nda nce of any perso n and exam ining him on oath ; (b) req uir ing the discovery and pro duction of docu ments; (c) receiving evidence on affidavit ; (d) requisi tion ing any publ ic record or copy the reo f from any court or office ; and (e) issuing commissions' for examin atio n of witnesses or documents. Amendment of decisions or orders. 7. Cle rica l or ari thm ati ca l mis takes in decision or orders or errors arising the rein from any accidental slip or omi­ ssion may at any time be cor rec ted by the Tribunal either of its own mo tion or on the app lica tion of any of the part ies. Procedure before Tribunal. 8. (1) Subject to the provisions of this Act an d the rule s framed the reu nder the Tribunal shall have power to regula te its own pro ced ure and for the con stitution of Be­ nches, if any, for the disposal of all ma tte rs arising out of the exercise of its powers under the prov ision s of this Act. (2) At least two of the members of the Tribunal will he ar and pass ord ers on appeals pre ferred before the Tribunal . (3) The decision of the ma jor ity o f the members present and hea ring the ma tte r sha ll be the decision of the Tr i­ bun al. Wh ere the members are equally divided in the ir opinion , the appeal would be heard and decided by all the members and the decis ion arr ive d at by the major ity opin ion of all the members shal l be the decis ion of the Tr ibun al . (4) The Tr ibu nal shall have pow er to confi rm, modify or reverse the order again st which the app eal is pre ferred or to rem and the matt er for a fresh decis ion by the com ­ petent authority passing the orde r in accordance with such directions, if any, as may be given by the Trib una l. Finality 9. (1 ) (a) The ord er of the Tr ibu nal passed in any app eal of decis ion un de r the provis ions of this Act shall be final. and bar of suit, powers of review of its own order and transf er of pending proceedings* 320 TH E ASSAM GAZETTE, EXTRA ORDIN ARY MA Y 2, J97 7 (b) Notwithstand ing any thin g con tain ed in ! sub-section (1) (a) above , the Tribunal ma y, on the app lica tion of any of the par ties, review its own decision or ord er in any case and may pass such orde r as it thinks fit : Pro vided that no such decis ion or or de r shall be review­ ed unless notice has been given to the opposite part ies to appear and to show cause why such ord er or decisio n should no t be reviewed : o Provided furth er that &n app lica tion fo r {review under sub-section (1) (b) shal l be made within thi rty days from the date of d ecis ion or o rd er o f the Tr ibu nal . (2) No twithstanding anything con tained in any law, no civil court or oth er authority shall en ter tain any civil suit o r oth< r p roceedings with respect to any of the mat ters which fall with in the jur isdiction of the T rib unal or qu«stio i in any form any orde r passed by the Tribunal in any appeal or review with resp ect to any mat ter when an appe al could have been p re­ ferred un de r the provis ions of this Act or with respect to any oth er ma't er which arises out of the exercise of powers under this Act. (3 ) Notwithstanding any thin g con tained in any law, all suits or oth er proceedings in resp ect of any matter ove r wh ich the Tribunal has jur isd ict ion and which ar« pending before any civil cou rt or oth er au tho rity on the date of coming into force of this Act shall stand tra nsfer red to the Tribunal and the civil co ui t or o ther authority before whom such a suit or proceeding is pend ing shall transf er all relevan t and connected paper s and records to the Tr ibun al a nd the reupon the Tribunal shall decide the suits and proceedings in th e same manner as if they were appeals pre ferred u nde r the prov isio ns of thi s Act. (4) The deci don of the Tr ibun al shall be implemented within such reas onable time as may be specified by the T ri ­ bun al. Re pre sen ta- 10. T h ; Government , the-co mpe :ent autho rity as well tion before a s the civil servant pre fer ring any appeal sha ll have the ri gh t n b u n a . t Q ke represente d before the Tr ibu na l through a duly au tho­ rised represent ative or by an Advocate. Contempt. i i . ( j ) -pbe Tribunal shall be deemed to be a Civil Court for the purpose > of Sections 345 and 346 of the Code of Crimina l Procedure , 1973 (Ce ntra l Act 2 o 1974) and the Conte mp t of Cou rts Act, 1971 (Ce ntral Act 70 o f 1971). (2) The proce edings before the Tribun al shal l be deemed to be a jud icial Proceedin g within the m eaning of Section 193 of India n Penal Code, 1860 (Ce ntral Ac t N o. 45 of 1860). TH E ASSAM GAZE IT E, E XT RA OR DINA RY , MAY 2, 1977 3 2 i Po ws r to 12. (1) Th e Sta te Government may, by not ifica tion in mak e rid es . t j,c o fj}c ja i Gazet te, make rules for the purposes of giving effect to the provisions of this Act. (2) All rules mad e under this Section shall be laid for not less iha n fou rteen days befo re the Assam Legis la­ tive AsseYnbly a» soon as possible afte r they are made and shal l be subject to such modifications as the Legislativ e Assembly may make during the session in which they are so laid or the session imm edia tely following! Po wer to 13. (1) Subject to the previous sanctio n of the Sta te make r e 8v- Governm ent, the Tr ibu na l shall , from time to time , fram e Tribunal ' C r egu lat ion s consistent with the prov ision s of this Act and rules made under Sect ion 12 for reg ula ting its pro ced ure and disposal of its business. (2) The regu lations made under sub-section (1) sh al l be pub lished in the Assam Gazette . Rep ea l a nd 14. (1) The Assam Admin istra tive Tribunal Ordinan ce, savmgf. 19/6, is her eby repe aled . (2) No tw ith sta nd ing such rep eal, any ord er passed, notif icati ons issued, any thin g done or any act ion tak en under the Assam Adm inis trative Tr ibu nal Ord inance , 1976, shall be deemed to have been passed, issued, done or tak en under the corre spon ding prov isions of this Act. tJ. TAHB ILD AR , Secreta ry to the Go vt, of Assam, Legis lative De pa rtm en t. • AU iiA TI—P rinte d an d publi sh ed by th e Su pd t., i/ c . A ss am Gov t. Pr intin g P re ss , (Ex-Ga ze tte ) No.123 - 1,6 25+400—2-5-1977.