CAT okays Govt’s move to impose penalty on former envoy to UAE

The ministry found that there were lapses on the part of Bhandari, the then Indian Ambassador to UAE, who had reportedly failed to communicate Nath’s schedule to the UAE PM and fix a meeting between the two. A notice was sent to Bhandari in May 2007, whereby he was directed to explain his failure. Dissatisfied with his reply, the ministry issued a ‘recordable’ warning and placed it in his CR dossier.

Bhandari, whose representation was rejected by the ministry, approached the Tribunal, saying the penalty was uncalled for as he had done his job diligently. If the UAE PM decided not to attend the meeting, he could not be blamed for it nor could he be issued a ‘recordable’ warning so as to ruin his career, he said.

However, the CAT held that it was “deficiency of right actions” on his part that had caused embarrassment to the ministry at an international forum. The principal Bench of the CAT, headed by Meera Chhibber, approved the decision of the ministry. “In this view of the matter, lapse on the part of applicant is fully established. In these circumstances, if warning has been issued to applicant, it calls for no interference,” said the Bench, noting that he had relied on indirect channel through the organisers of the Summit in place of the formal channels. The Bench observed that since it was on Bhandari’s “strong recommendation” that Nath took time out of his busy schedule to attend the Summit, the diplomat was directly responsible for the gaffe.