Armed Forces Tribunal to resume proceedings

In limbo for six months without a judicial member, the Kochi Bench of the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) is set to resume judicial proceedings, albeit provisionally, on Monday.

The Hindu has learnt that A. C. Armugaperumal Adityan, judicial member of the Tribunal's Chennai Bench, has been delegated to join Lieutenant General (retd.) Thomas Mathew, administrative member of the Kochi Bench, for a week to temporarily restore the judicial functioning of the Bench, presently reeling under enormous backlog.

The Kochi Bench of the Tribunal — with jurisdiction over Kerala, Karnataka and Lakshadweep — has not been holding court since May 19, the day its first judicial member demitted office. With the Centre dragging its feet on finding a suitable replacement, the functioning of the Bench has been severely impaired and reduced to routine administrative chores.

As many as 270 cases were pending with the Bench when K. Padmanabhan Nair's term in office ended. It further received about 72 fresh cases in the succeeding two months. Cases pending hearing are now in the hundreds, thanks to the inordinate delay in the appointment of a judicial member.

Formed to arbitrate complaints pertaining to remuneration, retirement benefits, tenure, appointment, seniority, promotion and superannuation of armed forces personnel, the AFT also has appellate jurisdiction to decide appeals against general court-martial proceedings.

With the exception of its Lucknow and Chandigarh Benches, each regional Bench of the AFT is constituted with a judicial member, generally a retired judge of a High Court, and an administrative member, a serving or retired officer above the rank of Major General or its equivalent in the other two services with three years of service in that rank, or a Judge Advocate General (JAG) with a year in office as the JAG.

While the Centre had initiated the process of identifying a judicial member to replace Mr. Nair as far back as March this year, it hasn't fructified yet. “The selection, done in consultation with the Chief Justice of India, is a cumbersome procedure involving ratification by several Central agencies including the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC),” explain sources.

Since its inception on December 7, 2009, till Mr. Nair's retirement, the Kochi Bench had done remarkably well settling about 300 cases, giving some significant rulings. .