RAJEEV KUMAR & ANR.versusHEMRAJ SINGH CHAUHAN & ORS.

                            [2010] 3 S.C.R. 572


    A                    RAJEEV KUMAR & ANR.
                                      v.
                   HEMRAJ SINGH CHAUHAN & ORS.
                  (Civil Appeal Nos. 2653-2654 of 2010)
                             MARCH 23, 2010
    8
        [R.V. RAVEENDRAN AND ASOK KUMAR GANGULY, JJ.]

             Jurisdiction - Service dispute - Application before CAT ·
       - Appellants not impleaded therein - Writ petition challenging
    C the order of tribunal - lmpleadment of appellants by High
        Court - Held: Appellants approaching High Court for the first.
        time in respect of the disputes over which CAT has
       jurisdiction, is legally not sustainable - In service matters,
       High Court is not the court of first instance - On facts, despite
    o having knowledge of pendency of the proceedings before
        CAT, appellants could not have approached High Court at the
       first instance - Appellants also had alternative remedy of
       review before CAT - Impugned judgment was in violation of
     · judgment in L. Chandra Kumar* which embody a rule of law
    E in view of Article 141 of Constitution - Central Administrative
        Tribunal (Procedure) Rules, 1987 - r. 17 - Constitution of
        India, 1950 - Article 141 - Service Law.

          Two original applications were filed before Central
      Administrative Tribunal (CAT) by the respondents.
    F Appellants were not made parties therein. One
      application was dismissed while the other was partly
      allowed. When the said Judgment was challenged before
      High Court by the respondents, appellants fi!ed
      impleadment application, which was allowed by High
·   G Court High Court ultimately set aside the' judgment of
      CAT. Hence the present appeals.

         The question for consideration before the Court was
      whether the appellants could participate in the
    H                          572
     RAJEEV KUMAR & ANR. v. HEMRAJ SINGH                 573
              CHAUHAN & ORS.
controversy in question at the stage when the matter was        A
before High Court and they were not parties before
Central Administrative Tribunal.

    Dismissing the appeals, the Court

     HELD: 1. The approach made to the High Court for           8
the first time by the appellants in respect of their service
disputes over which Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT
) has jurisdiction, is not legally sustainable. The High
Court fell into an error by allowing the appellants to treat
the High Court as a court of first instance in respect of       C
their service disputes, for adjudication of which CAT has
been constituted. [Para 15) [578-8-C]                      ..

     2. The grievances of the appellants in this appeal are
that they were not made parties in proceedings before the       o
Tribunal. But in the impleadment application filed before
the High Court it was not averred by them that they were
not aware of the pendency of the proceeding before the
Tribunal. Rather, from the! averments made in the
impleadment petition, it appears that they were aware of        E
the pendency of the proceedings before the Tribunal. It
was therefore, open for them to approach the Tribunal
with their grievances. Not having done so, they cannot
approach the High Court and treat it as the Court of first
instance in respect of their grievances by 'overlooking
the jurisdiction of the Tribunal'. The CAT also has the
                                                                F
jurisdiction of Review u/r. 17 of Central Administrative
Tribunal (Procedure) Rules, 1987. So, it cannot be said
that the appellants were without any remedy. [Para 16)
[578-D-F]
                                                                G
    3. The principles laid down in the case of L. Chandra
Kumar virtually embody a rule of law and in view of Article
141 of the Constitution, the same is binding on the High
Court. The High Court fell into an error by allowing the
appellants to approach it in clear violation of the             H
     574      SUPREME COURT REPORTS                [2010] 3 S.C.R.


 A Constitution Bench judgment of this Court in L. Chandra
   Kumar. (Para 18) (578-H; 579-A]

         * L. Chandra Kumar vs. Union of India and Ors. (1997)
     3 sec 261, followed.
 B       4. As the appellants cannot approach the High Court
     by treating· it as a court of first instance, their Special
     Leave Petition before Supreme Court is also incompetent
     and not maintainable. (Para 17) [578-G]
                           Case Law Reference:
           (1997) 3 sec 261         followed.             Para 8
         CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal No.
     2653-2654 of 201 o.
·D
     . . From the Judgment & Order dated 14.11.2008 of the High
     Court of Delhi at New Delhi in Writ Petition (Civil) Nos. 19103-
     04. ,<)f
          . .
              2006 .

      .·· ..· V.N. Sheety, L.N. Rao, S.L. Misra, Shail Dwivedi, AAG,
 E · .Ravindra Kumar, T.V. Ratnam, Naresh Kaushik, Kiran
 · Bhardwaj, Anil Katiyar, B. Krishna Prasad, Binu Tamta,
  .· Upendra Nath Misra, Nikhil Majithia, Anuvrat Shanria, Kapil
     Misra, Shiva Kumar Sinha, Jitendra Mohan Sharma, Sandeep
     Singh and Sandeep Malik for the appearing parties.
 F
           The Judgment of the Court was delivered by

           GANGULY, J. 1. Leave granted.

       2. The appellants in these appeals are Non-State Civil
G Service Officers (hereinafter referred to as the "Non-SCS
  Officers"). They filed an impleadment application in the Delhi
  High Court for being impleaded as respondents in Writ Petition
  No.19103-04 of 2006 filed by Hem raj Singh Chauhan and
  Others before the High Court whereupon the High Court by an
H
    RAJEEV KUMAR & ANR. v. HEMRAJ SINGH                      575
  CHAUHAN & ORS. [ASOK KUMAR GANGULY, J.]
order dated 23rd April 2008 allowed them to intervene and            A
further allowed them to make submissions at the time of
hearing of the writ petition. They were also given liberty to file
affidavits.

      3. Pursuant to the said order of the Hon'ble High Court,
                                                                     8
these appellants filed affidavits. After the High Court passed
its impugned judgment dated 14.11.08 they have filed these
appeals assailing the said judgment.

     4. At the outset of their arguments this Court wanted
learned counsel for the appellants to satisfy this Court about       C
their locus to participate in the controversy at the stage when
the matter was before the High Court in view of the fact that
admittedly these appellants were not parties before the Central
Administrative Tribunal (hereinafter, 'C.A.T.').
                                                                     D
      5. Before the C.A.T. there were three applicants namely,
 Hemraj Singh Chauhan, Anwah11 Haque and Ram Nawal Singh
 who were common both in O.A. No.1097/06 and O.A. No.1137/
 06. Apart from those three persons, Ramesh Chandani and
 K.K. Shukla were also applicants in O.A. No. 1137/06. Both          E
·the original applications were heard together.

      6. The C.A.T. in its judgment dated 15.12.2006 held that
O.A. No.1097/06 was without merit and dismissed the same
and O.A. No.1137/06 was partly allowed and the respondents
were directed to convene the meeting of D.P.C. Selection             F
Committee to fill-up the posts which ultimately remain unfulfilled
in 2001, 2002 and 2004 and to consider all eligible SCS
Officers in the zone of consideration in the respective years
including the Officers who were put in the select list of those
years but could not be appointed in the absence of integrity         G
certificate. The C.A.T. directed that the said order be complied
within the period of four months.

    7 .. However, on the said judgment being challenged before
the High Court by Hemraj Singh Chauhan, the High Court set           H
    576      SUPREME COURT REPORTS                     [2010] 3 S.C.R.


A     aside lhe judgment of the C.A.T. and the Central Government
    · and the State Government w~re directed to undertake the cadre
      reviewing exercise with refer~nce to the vacancy position as
      on 1st January 2004 in the manner indicated in the High Court
      judgment within eight weeks from date.
B
           8. However, while answering the objection on their locus
     standi, the appellants referred to the decision of the
     Constitution Bench of this Court in the case of L. Chandra
     Kumar v. Union of India and others - (1997) 3 SCC 261 and
     in particular to paragraph 99, page 311 at placitum f & g of
C    the report and contended that in view of th~ law declared in
     Chandra Kumar (supra), they can come before the/High Court
     and raise their grievances against the judgment of C.A.T. as
     their interests have been affected by that judgment even though
     they were not parties to the proceedings in which the said
D    judgment was rendered.

          9. This Court is of the view that the understanding of the
     ratio in Chandra Kumar (supra) by the learned counsel for the
     appellants in this case is not correct and the ratio in Chandra
E    Kumar (supra) is just to the contrary.

          10. The Constitution Bench in Chandra Kumar (supra)
  . held that the power of the High Court under Articles 226 and
    227 of the Constitution and of this Court under Article 32 of
    the Gonstitution is a part of the basic structure of our
    Constitution (See paragraphs 78 & 79, pages 301 and 302 of
    the report). The Constitution Bench also held that various
    Tribunals
           .    .
                created      urider Articles 323-A and 323-B of the
    Constitution, will function as Court of first instance and are
    subject to the power of judicial review of the High Court under
G · Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution. The Constitution
    Bench also held that these Tribunals are empowered even to
    deal with· constitutional questions and can also examine the
    vires of statl.ito·ry legislation, except the vires of the legislation
    which creates the particular Tribunal.
H
    RAJEEV KUMAR & ANR. v. HEMRAJ SINGH                     577
  CHAUHAN & ORS. [ASOK KUMAR GANGULY, J.]

    11. In paragraph 93, at page 309 of the report, the             A
Constitution Bench specifically held:

    " ... We may add that the Tribunals will, however, continue
    to act as the only courts of first instance in respect of the
    areas of law for which they have been constituted .... "        B

                                             (Emphasis added)

     12. The Constitution Bench explained the said statement
of law by reiterating in the next sentence:
                                                                    c
    " .. By this, we mean that it will not be open for litigants to
    directly approach the High Courts even in cases where they
    question the vires of statutory legislations (except, as
    mentioned, where the legislation which creates the
    particular Tribunal is challenged) by overlooking the
                                                                    0
    jurisdiction of the Tribunal concerned.

    13. On a prope'r reading of these two sentences, it is clear:

    (a) The Tribunals will function as the only Court of first
    instance in respect of the areas of law for which they have     E
    been constituted.

    (b) Even where any challenge is made to the Vires of
    legislation, excepting the legislation under which Tribunal
    has been set up, in such cases also, litigants will not be      F
    able to directly approach the High Court 'overlooking the
    jurisdiction of the Tribunal'.

     14. The aforesaid propositions have been repeated again
by the Constitution Bench in the penultimate paragraph 99 at
page 311 of the report in the following words:                      G

    "... The Tribunals will, nevertheless, continue to act like
    courts of first instance in respect of the areas of law for
    which they have been constituted. It will not, therefore, be
    open for litigants to directly approach the High Courts even    H
    578      SUPREME COURT REPORTS                  [2010] 3 S~C.R.


A         in cases where they question the vires of statutory
          legislations (except where the legislation which creates the
          particular Tribunal is challenged) by overlooking the
          jurisdiction of the Tribunal concerned .... "       ·

B       15. In view of such repeated and authoritative
  pronouncement by the Constitution Bench of this Court, the ·
  approach made to the High Court for the first time by these
  appellants in respect of their service disputes over which C.A.r.
  has jurisdiction, is not legally sustainable. The Division Bench.
  of the High Court, with great respect, fell into an error by allowing
C the appellants to treat the High Court as a Court of first instance .
  in respect of their service disputes, for adjudication bf which
  C.A.T. has been constituted.

        16. The grievances of the appellants in this appeal are that
D they were not made parties in proceedings before the Tribunal.
  But in the impleadment application filed before the High Court
  it was not averred by them that they were not aware of the
  pendency of the proceeding before the Tribunal. Rather from .
  the averrnents made in the impleadment petition it appears that .
E they were aware of the pendency of the proceedings. before the . ·
  Tribunal. It was therefore, open for them to approach the
  Tribunal with their grievances. Not having done so, they cannot,
  in view of the clear law laid down by the Constitution Bench of
  this Court in Chandra Kumar(supra), approach the High Court
F and treat it as the Court of first instance in respect of their
  grievances by 'overlooking the jurisdiction of the Tribunal'. The
  C.A.T. also has the jurisdiction of Review under Rule 17 of CAT
  (Procedure) Rules, 1987. So, it cannot be said that the
  appellants were without any remedy.

G        17. As the appellants cannot approach the High Court by
    treating it as a Court of first instance, their Special Leave
    Petition before this Court is also incompetent and not
    maintainable.

H         18. The principles laid down in the case of Chandra Kumar
          RAJEEV KUMAR & ANR. v. HEMRAJ SINGH                    579
        CHAUHAN & ORS. [ASOK KUMAR GANGULY, J.]

    (supra) virtually embody a rule of law and in view of Article 141   A
    of the Constitution the same is binding on the High Court. The
    High Court fell into an error by allowing the appellants to
    approach it in clear violation of the Constitution Bench judgment
1   of this Court in Chandra Kumar (supra).
                                                                        B
        19. For the reasons aforesaid the appeals are dismissed
    as not maintainable. No costs.

    K.K.T.                                     Appeals dismissed .




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