The Assam Administrative Tribunal Act, 1977

<i~ 62, No. 62, R~stcrcd No. A-12 The Assam Gazette 15Jjf]6RJC1 EXTRAORDINARY 21tfJ-<11~'W" tii~I ~"II!! J>llBLISHED BY AUTHORITY r flf"t~~, Qft'T<tt<f, 2 QI 1977, 12 <r~t'5t, 1899 "t:cf Dlspur, Monday, 2nd May, 1977, l l th Valsakha, 1899 -(S. E.) GOVERNMENT OF ASSAM ORDERS BY THE GOVERNOR LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT NOTIFICATION The 2nd May 1977 No.LJL.93/76/77.-The following Act of the Assam L egislative Assembly which received the assent of the President is hereby pu blished for general information. a16 THE ASSAM GAZETTE, EXTRAORDINARY, MAY 2. 1977 ASSAM ACT VIII OF 1977 (Received the assent of the President of India on 2nd May 1977) fHB ASSAM ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL ACT, 197 7 An Act r~ eamble. to provide for the constitution of a Tribunal to adjudicate disputes in respect of certain conditions of service of certain classes of Civil servants of the State. It is hereby enacted in the Twenty-eighth year of the Republic of India as follows:- Short title, I. (1) This Act may be called the Assam Administrative extent and Tribunal Act, 1977. C')mmence- ment. lJefinitions. (2) It shall extend to t he whole of Assam. (3) It shall be, deemed to have com~ into force on the Third day of January, 1977. 2. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires:- (a) 'Chairman' means the Chair man of the Tribunal; (b) 'Civil servant' means a person who is or has been a member of a civil service or who holds or has held a civil post in connection with the affairs of the State of Assam and includes any such person on foreign service, a person whose services have been temporarily placed at the disposal of a local or o ther authority, ·any person in the service of a local or other authority whose services have been temporarily placed at the disposal of the State Government, a person in service un<ier the State Government ou a contract and a person who has retired from the Government service elsewhere and has been re-employed under the State Government but does not include employees of the Gauhati High Court, employees of the Assam Legis­ lative Assembly Secretariat, employees of the Assam Public Service Commission, persons in the All India Service and other Civil services of the Indian Union, or persons of Civil services of other State Govern­ ment servin~ on deputation in Assam ; THE ASSAM GAZETTE, EXTRAORDINARY, MAY 2, 1971'. · 317 ~ ( c) 'civil services' means the civil services of the State of Assam and such , other services as may be speci­ fied by the State Government from time to time by notification, but shall not include- (i) services under the Gauhati High Court ; (ii) services uncle~ the Assam Legislative Assembly; (iii) services under the Assam Public Service Commis­ sion; (iv) All India Services and other civil services of the Indian Union ; (d) 'competent authority' means any officer or other authority having power to pass any order whether oriainal, appellate or rcvisional, under any service ru le, executive instruction or order, · general or special, of the State Government in respect of any con­ di tions of services of a civil servant; • ' T (e) ' conditions of service' includes all matters relatina to the- (i) appointment, seniority, confirmation and termina­ tion of service of a civil ser vant ; (ii) censure, withholding of increments or promotion, recovery from pay of any loss to the Government, reduction to a lower service, arade or post, or to a lower time scale, or to a lower staae in a time scale, denial or variation of pension or denial of the maximum pension; (f) 'member' means a member of the Tribunal and in­ cludes the Chairman; (g) 'notification' means a notification published in the . As•am Gazette ; (h) 'prescribed' means prescribed by rules made under this Act; (i) 'State Government' means the Government of Assam; (j) 'Tribunal' means the Assam Administrative Tribunal constituted under Section 3 of this Act. '. · ·.1 Cons ti tu• , 11 · f tion of the 3. (1; The State Government sha constitute or the State Tribunal. of Assam a Tr ibunal to be known as the Assam Adminis­ trn.tive Tribunal. (2) The Tribunal shall consist of three members to be aprointed by the State Government. 318 THB ASSA\i GAZETTE, EXTRAORDINARY, M:\Y 2, 1977 J1o1ri .. iction. (3) The State Government shall appoint one of l'.b.c" members of the Tribunal to act as the Chairman thereof. (4) The Chairman shall be a person who at the time of appointment to the Tribunal is a senior administrator with wide experience and of the other two members, one shall have experience in legal affairs and the other shall have experience in technical matters, none being lower in the rank than Secretary to the State Government. (5) No person shall be retained as a member of the Tribunal after he has attained the aae of sixty years. ( 6) The salary and allowances of the members of the Tribunal 11hall be such as may be prescribed. (7) The principal scat of the Tribunal shall be at Gauhati but the Tribunal may also sit at such other place or places as the Chairman may, from time to time, specify. 4. (I) Save as otherwise expressly provided in sub-section (2) below the Tribunal shall have jurisdictioa to entertain and dispose of appeals preferred by civil servants against any order passed by a competent authority in respect of any condition of service. (2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (I) above, the Tribunal shall have no jurisdiction with respect to any order passed, when the civil servant has not availed of all the remedies available to him under the relevant service rules, executive instructions or orders : Provided that notwithstanding anything contained in the aboTc paragraph the Tribunal may entertain an appeal from a civil servant, if any appeal, revision petition or representa­ tion filed by him under the relevant service rules before the competent authority has not been finall y disposed of by the corilpctent authority within a period of six months from the date of filing &uch appeal , revision petition or representation. (3) Notwithstanding anything contained in SUD-section (1) above, the Tribunal shall have no jurisdiction to enter­ tain and dispose of appeals against any order passed by a competent authority under Article 311 (2) provisos (a), (b) and ( c) as also under F. R . 56 (b). t.imitation•" 5. No appeal shall lie to the Tribunal after the expiry of 60 days from the date of the order appealed against : Provided that the Tribunal may entertain an appeal after the expiry of sixty days from the date of passing the order if the Tribunal is satisfied that the Civil servant was ·prevented by any sufficient cause from preferring the appeal within the aferesaid period. ... _, THE ASSAM GAZETTE EX1RAOF.DlNARY, MAY 2, 1977 319 'l>owen •f the. 6. The Tribunal shall . for fae purpose of the disposal Tribunal. of an appeal have all the powen of a civil court for the trial of a suit under the CoJe of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908) in respe:;t of the following matters, namely:- (a) summoning and enforcing the attendance of any person and examining him on oath ; (b) requiring the discovery 11nd production of docume:its; . (c) receiving evidence on affidavit; (d) requisitioning any public , record or copy thereof from any court or office ; and (e) issuing commiasions-- for examination of witnesaes or· documents. Amendment 7. Clerical or arithmatical mistakes in decision or orders 0~r decJ~i~sns or errors arising therein from any accidental slip or omi- or • ssion may at any time be corrected by the Tribunal either Procedure before Tribunal. of its own motion or on the application of any of the parties. 8. (1) Subject to the prov1S1ons of this Act and the rules framed thereunder the Tribunal shall have power to regulate its own procedure an<l for the constitution of Be­ nches, if any, for the disposal of all matters arising out of the exercise of its powers under the provisions of thi1 Act. (2) At least two of the members of the Tribunal will hear and pass orders on appeals preferred before tbe Tribunal. (3) The decision of the majority of the members present and hearing the m::itter shall be the decision of the Tri­ bunal. Where the members are equally divid<".d in their opinion, the appeal would be heard and decided by all the members and the decision arrived at by the majority opinion of all the members shall be the decision of the Tribunal. ( 4) The Tribunal shall have power to confirm, modify or reverse the order against which the appeal is preferred or to remand the matter for a fresh decision by the com­ petent authority passing the order in accordance with such directions, if any, as may be given by the Tribunal. Finality 9. (l) (a) The order of the Tribunal passed in any appeal of decision under the provisions .of this Act shall be final. and bar of suit, powers of review of its own order and transfer of pending proceedings. .. (b) Notwithstanding any thing contained in rsub-section ~- (1) (a) above, the Tribunal may~ on:: the application of any of the parties, review its own decision or ord(',r in any case Jlnd may pass such order as it think11 fit : Provided that no such decision or order shall be review­ ed unless notice has been given to the opposite parties to appear and to show cause why rnch order or decision should not be reviewed : . Provided further that an tpplication for ! review under sub-section (I) (b) sh all be made within thirty days from the date of decision or order of the Tribunal. (2) Notwithstanding anything contained in any law, no civil court or other authority shall entertain any civil suit or othn -proceedings with r espect to any of the matters which fall within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal or qu•~ tio 1 in any form any order pas1ed by the Tribunal in any appeal or review with respect to any matter when an appeal could have been pre­ ferred under the provisions of thi11 Act or ,·ith resJtect to any o ther ma•ter which arisca out of the exercise of power:. under this Act. (3) Notwithstanding anything contained in any Jaw, all suits or other proceedinas in respect of any matter over which the Tribunal has jurisdic tion and whicll are pending before any civil court or other authority on the date of coming into force of thi11 Act shall stand tranafcrred to the Tribunal and the civil court or other authority before whom such a sui t ·or proceeding i'> pending shall transfer all relevant and connected papers and records to the Tribunal and thereupon the Tribunal shall decide the suits and proceedings in the same manner as if they were app c·als preferred under the provisions of this Act. (4) The deci ;ion of the Tribunal shall be implemented within such reasonable time as may be specified by the Tri­ bunal. Representa- 10. 1 h ~ Government, the. compe '. ent authority as well tion before as the civil servant preferring any appeal shall have the right Tribunal. to be r ;)presen ted before the Tribunal through a duly autho- rised represen tative or by an Advocate. Contempt. 11. t l) The Tribunal, shall be deemed to be a Civil Court for t he purpo:.e, of Sections 345 and 346 of the Code of Criminal Procedure , 1973 (Central Act 2 o" 1974) and the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 (Central Act 70 of 1971). (2) The proceedings before the Tribunal shall be deemed · to be a .Judicial Proceeding within the meaning of Section 193 of Indian Penal Code, 1860 (Central Act No. 45 of 1860). , ? f THE ASSAM GALBl'TE, EXTRAORDINARY. MAY 2, 1971 Pow~r to malre r ules. 12. (1) The State Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, make r ules for the purposes of giving. effect to the provisions of this Act. (2) All rules made under this Section sha ll be laid for not less than fourteen days before the Assam Legisla­ tive Aasembly a1 soon as possible after they are made and shall be subject to mch modifications as the Le~islative Assembly may make during the session in which they are so laid or the session immediately following: Power to 13. ( l) Subject to the previous sanct ion of the State m~ke regu- Government, the Tribunal shall , from time to time, frame lat1on by the 1 · · h h · · f h" A d T ribu 1 r e&u at1ons cons1&tent w11 t e prov1s1ons o t is ct an na · rules made under Section 12 for regulating its procedure and disposal of iti business. (2) The regulations made under sub-section (1) shall be published in the Assam Gazette. Repeal and 14 . ( 1) The Assam Administrative Tribunal Ordinance, saving>. 19 i6, is hereby repealed. (2) Notwith8tanding such r epeal , any order passed, notifications is~ued anything done or any action taken under the Assam Admin{atrative Tribunal Ordinance, 1976, shall b~ deemed to have been passed, issued, done or taken under the corr~sponding provisions of this Act. tJ. TAHBILDAR , Secretary to the Govt. of As sam, Legislative D epar tment. 11\UHATl-Printed and published by the Supdt., i/c. Assam Govt. P r intio11 Pren, (E"<-Gazette) No.123-l,625+400-2-5-1977.