New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Friday April 22 sought the response of the Centre on a review petition filed by former West Bengal Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay against the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) decision to transfer his case from the Kolkata bench to the national capital.
Issuing the notice, a bench of Justices Rajiv Shakdher and Jyoti Singh slated the matter for further hearing on May 20.
The review plea of the former civil servant was followed by the dismissal of his petition by a division bench last month.
Bandyopadhyay was in the news after he did not attend a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Kolkata in the wake of cyclone Yaas in May last year.
During the last hearing, Bandyopadhyay’s counsel submitted that the CAT order was passed in complete violation of the principles of natural justice, equity, and fair play.
The petitioner further submitted that he was not even granted a right to file his written objections to the transfer petition.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, pointed out the violation of the former Chief Secretary, saying that the CAT had exclusive power to transfer the case.
Bandyopadhyay was issued a show-cause notice under the Disaster Management Act following the incident. The bureaucrat, however, resigned from service but was subjected to disciplinary proceedings initiated by the Centre.
He then approached the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) in Kolkata against these proceedings. Following this, the CAT’s principal bench in Delhi transferred the case to the national capital.
Bandyopadhyay then moved the high court against the CAT order. The high court on October 29 last year took strong objection to the manner in which the CAT principal bench favoured the Central government in transferring Bandyopadhyay’s case to itself and quashed the CAT order.
Thereafter, the Centre approached the apex court against the high court order. The top court said that the Calcutta High Court did not have the jurisdiction to decide the plea of Bandyopadhyay.
It also granted liberty to Bandyopadhyay to approach the jurisdictional high court (Delhi) to challenge the order of the CAT principal bench.
