Post-retirement blues

Speaking at a seminar — Military justice system and the Armed Forces Tribunal — held on the occasion of the first anniversary of the establishment of AFT’s Chandigarh bench,Justice Mathur came out strong against the indifferent attitude of the Ministry of Defence and the services. “After a wait of 20 years in the High Court to get her husband’s pension,a widow is granted relief in one month at the tribunal. But if the orders are still not implemented,the relief is pointless,” said Justice Mathur.

Citing examples from his year-long experience as chief of the AFT,Justice Mathur observed that there’s resistance towards the tribunal from the armed forces themselves. “I hope that with the passage of time,the forces will realise that AFT is not challenging authority. The judicial system is fair and be it a General or a Jawan,all are treated fairly,” said Justice Mathur.

Further,he reiterated the fact that there were several drawbacks in the AFT Act which need to be redressed. The Armed Forces Tribunal Act,passed by Parliament in 2007,came into effect in June last year. It provides for adjudication by the tribunal of disputes and complaints about commission,appointments,enrollment and service conditions in respect of those covered by the Three Services Act,and hearing of appeals arising out of orders,findings or sentences of court martial. The tribunal has original jurisdiction in service matters and appellate jurisdiction in court martial matters. “The powers of the Tribunal,relating to civil contempt,needed to be redefined. There has to be pressure if orders are to be implemented,” said Justice Mathur.

On the working of the Chandigarh bench,headed by Justice Ghanshyam Prasad and Justice N P Gupta,the chairman was all praise. “I am very happy with the Chandigarh bench. We will soon have three mobile courts under this Bench which will be located at Shimla,Jammu and Srinagar,” he added.

Since its establishment a year ago,the Chandigarh bench of AFT has disposed off 1,242 cases. “All cases from the Punjab and Haryana High Court have been transferred and we are expecting 3,000 more cases from other states,” mentioned Lt Gen NS Brar,administrative member,Chandigarh bench. Speaking about the type of litigation that the bench has been approached with,Gen Brar said,“Our experience can be summed up in three Ps – Pension,Pain and Promotion. Ninety per cent litigation is with regard to pension and that too disability pension,” informed Brar. Justice Ghanshyam Prasad,Lt Gen (Retd) Vijay Oberoi and practicing advocates from the city,Major Navdeep Singh and Capt Sandeep Bansal were the other speakers on the occasion.