Bandyopadhyay then moved the Delhi High Court challenging the transfer of the case. His plea stated that the order passed by the Principal Bench of CAT was in complete violation of the principles of natural justice, equity and fair play as he was not even granted a right to file his written objections to the transfer petition filed by the Centre, which was allowed on the very first day of its listing.
“The petitioner is the former Chief Secretary to the Government of West Bengal and retired on 31st May, 2021. The petitioner ordinarily and permanently resides in Kolkata. Therefore, the petitioner had an unqualified right under Rule 6(2) of the Central Administrative Tribunal (Procedure) Rules, 1987 to file the Original Application before the Kolkata Bench. Further, the entire cause of action in respect of the Original Application as well as the underlying disciplinary proceedings against the Petitioner occurred within the jurisdiction of the Kolkata Bench,” the petition said.
Appearing for Bandyopadhyay, Advocate Karthikey Bhatt had argued that the CAT Chairman did not give him any time before transferring the matter to Delhi.
He said that the matter concerned an inquiry with respect to the incident that happened in West Bengal, the officer is an IAS officer of the West Bengal cadre and all the papers pertaining to the case are also in that territory.
The only witness that the Union of India seeks to examine is the officer of West Bengal, and therefore, the balance of convenience also lies in Bandyopadhyay’s favour, Bhatt had said.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, however, submitted that the CAT Chairman passed the order under Section 25 of The Administrative Tribunals Act, which is an administrative order and the only conditions prescribed in the Section is that the Chairman should give reasons for the order and that it should not be capricious or arbitrary.
“Section 25 refers to the power of the Chairman to transfer cases from one bench to another. The powers are very wide. The Chairman has the power to transfer cases from one bench to any other bench. This is a master of roster power and held to be administrative by the Supreme Court,” he had said.
Source: Barandbench
