Chandigarh, November 14
Provisions of the recently set up Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) have enabled it to overcome certain limitations imposed by the Constitution on the powers of high courts. This widens the ambit of judicial review by the AFT and its ability to grant relief to aggrieved military personnel.
Speaking at the inauguration of the Chandigarh Bench here today, AFT chairman Justice AK Mathur said the AFT would have the power to review trial evidence, something that the high courts cannot do under provisions of Article 226 of the Constitution.
Justice Mathur said more powers have been granted to the AFT vis-à-vis similar military tribunals that have been functioning in other countries for a long time. While many foreign military tribunals are primarily judicial bodies, the AFT here has original jurisdiction in regard to service matters as well as appellate jurisdiction over verdicts delivered by military courts.
The Chandigarh Bench, which would have jurisdiction over Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Chandigarh, would begin functioning from its interim location at Chandigarh from November 16. About 3,500 cases pending before the high courts of these states would be transferred to this bench. It has already received about 30 such cases.
In his keynote address, Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Justice TS Thakur, said earlier the courts were hesitant to interfere in military matters. The perception changed later following a SC ruling that on joining the services individuals do not cease to be citizens of the country and were fully entitled to seek justice. Any injustice done to them that was not redressed was a calamity in itself, he added. Judicial intervention by the courts was justified, leading to a spate of service cases.
Pointing out that establishing tribunals was a way to ensure speedy justice and cut down the mammoth pendency of cases at all levels, he said the criticism of setting up the AFT received from some quarters was ill-found.Justice Ghanshyam Prashad, the judicial member of the Chandigarh Bench, said despite constitutional provisions, it had taken the government 25 years to promulgate the AFT. Listing out the powers and functions of the AFT, he said the appeal to its orders lies only with the Supreme Court.
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