Services and Administrative Tribunals

 

1)      Doctrine of Pleasure tenure:

                                i.            All members of civil services of the Union or of All India Services hold office during the pleasure of the President

                              ii.            Similarly, members of the State services hold office during the pleasure of the Governor

                            iii.            The judges of Supreme Court and the High Courts, C &AG, Chief Election Commissioner, members of Public Service Commissions are excluded from the operation of the "doctrine of pleasure tenure"

2)      Safeguards to civil servants by restriction on 'doctrine of pleasure tenure' (Art. 311) :

                                i.            no person holding a civil post under the Union or the States shall be dismissed or removed by an authority subordinate to the appointing authority

                              ii.            no such person be dismissed, removed or reduced in rank except after an inquiry in which he has been informed of the charges against him and given a reasonable opportunity of being heard in respect of those charges.

3)      Opportunity of being heard can be denied in following conditions :

                                i.            a person is dismissed or removed or reduced in rank on the ground of conduct which has led to his conviction on a criminal charges

                              ii.            competent authority is satisfied that for some reason it is not reasonably practicable to hold such inquiry

                            iii.            the President or Governor, as the case may be, is satisfied that in the interest of security of the State it is not expedient to hold such inquiry

Administrative Tribunals (Art. 323A)

1)      The 42^nd Amendment Act, 1976 has inserted Part XIV-A (Art. 323A and 323B) in the Constitution

2)      It authorises Parliament to set up administrative tribunals for the purpose of settling disputes and complaints involving civil services

3)      the Parliament passed the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985 providing for setting up of Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) for the Union including All India Services and State Administrative Tribunals (SAT) for the States

4)      the tribunals are meant to relieve the courts of overload and expedite the process of justice in the interest of the affected officials

5)      The members of CAT and SAT are drawn from the Judges of the High Courts and from the civil services.

6)      The following categories of employees are exempted from the purview of the Administrative Tribunals :

                                  i.            employees of the Supreme Court and the High Courts

                                ii.            armed forces personnel

                              iii.            employees of the secretariat of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha