CAT to decide bureaucrat's case ex-parte on March 22 if Centre's counsel fails to appear

'It is made clear that on the next date fixed in the matter, if the counsels for the respondents failed to appear, the matter shall be decided ex-parte on merit,' said the Central Administrative Tribunal.

New Delhi: Unhappy over the conduct of the Centre's counsel while hearing a bureaucrat's plea seeking documents related to his empanelment, the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) has said the case will be decided on Friday ex-parte in case the respondents advocates fail to appear before it, according to an official order.

The directive came on Monday on a plea filed by Sanjiv Chaturvedi, a 2002 batch Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer of the Uttarakhand cadre, in December 2022.

Hearing the matter through video-conferencing, the CAT principal bench said that "nobody is present on behalf of the respondent-UOI (Union of India) although Shri Hanu Bhaskar, counsel for the respondents put his appearance through video conferencing, but he refused to argue the matter on merits," the tribunal said in its order.

T C Aggarwal, learned counsel representing the respondents (Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change) is also not connected and "private secretary to one of us, repeatedly called from his mobile to Shri T C Aggarwal... but he has not responded the same or connected through V.C. in the matter," said the order issued by the bench of Justice Rajiv Joshi (judicial member) and Anand S Khati (administrative member).

The conduct of the counsel for the respondents is not appreciated by the court, it said, adding that the court has no option, but to adjourn the matter.

The CAT directed the case to be put up on March 22, 2024, and inform about this order to both the counsels for the respondents (Bhaskar and Aggarwal) in writing, according to the order's copy.

"It is made clear that on the next date fixed in the matter, if the counsels for the respondents failed to appear, the matter shall be decided ex-parte on merit," said the tribunal, which adjudicates matters related to the government employees.

Hearing this matter, the bench had last month directed to put up this matter 'for final hearing peremptorily'.

"Since, the pleadings between the parties have already been exchanged, put up this matter on 18.03.2024 for final hearing peremptorily," it had said in an order dated February 20.

Chaturvedi had sought directions to the Central government to produce all documents, appraisals, reports of expert committees, civil services board (CSB) and findings of the competent authorities related to the rejection of his application for empanelment at the level of joint secretary or equivalent in the Central government.

The officer was conveyed his non-empanelment for holding the post of the joint secretary or equivalent by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) through an order dated November 15, 2022, by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change.

The tribunal had issued notices to the Central government on December 20, 2022.