NEW DELHI: Against the backdrop of a long pendency of cases, a Parliamentary standing committee on personnel, public grievances, law and justice has asked the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) to ensure speedy disposals of cases. The committee in its recent report citing figures of cases pending for a decade has recommended the disposal of cases, especially those related to pension and senior citizens’ issues as a top priority.
The committee has referred to over 1,350 pending cases that merit priority in quick disposal. The CAT was set up under Article 323A of the Constitution for adjudication of disputes and complaints with respect to the recruitment or condition of services of Central government employees.
At present, 19 benches and 19 circuit benches in CAT are functional in the country. It has assumed a strong administrative significance after the government notified 251 organisations, including ministries and departments of the central government, under its jurisdiction. The Parliamentary committee in its report has mentioned that 80,545 cases were pending in different benches of the tribunal as on December 31, 2022.
“Of them, around 16,661 cases are pending for zero to one year, 46,534 for one to five years, 16,000 for five to 10 years and 1,350 for more than 10 years”, the panel has stated in its report. Citing the CAT (Procedure) Rules, 1987, the committee has also mentioned that “every application should be heard and decided as far as possible, within six months from the date of its registration,” but pendency strikes a priority in the disposal. It has further mentioned that as many 1,350 cases are pending for over a decade in addition to over 3,716 cases related to pensions, pending in the tribunal.