Administrative Tribunals in Orissa (Mascots of Speedy Justice)

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With the growth of Administrative process in all welfare states, the citizens' problem of getting quick and efficient decisions on matters affecting their economic life presented a new phenomena of administrative justice. The classical rule of law gave into the concept of administrative Tribunals to administer justice on specialised fields. French model of droit administrative with its success story became the basis of the new innovation of administrative Tribunals though in slightly different attire. American zeal for administrative law and agencies, British experiment of administrative Tribunals made terrible impact on the new nations to import the system of administrative justice, Administrative law and Administrative Tribunals.

Working of Administrative Tribunals in Orissa evoked academic interest of the exponents of "Rule of Law" where regular judical process is mandatory to provide justice to the people. In the context, Government by Subordinate legislation assumes power to adjudicate the disputes on various matters through administrative Tribunals. It is necessary to assess if the administrative courts or administrative Tribunals are delivering justice to the aggrieved people. It is important to evaluate whether the Administrative law and the Administrative Tribunals side the individual rights or state authority. The author seeks to provide the answer to the above raised in a different contexts by Lord Hewart's concern on "New Despotism".

Dr. Durga Madhab Padhy was born on 1st May 1944 in the Village Kumbari, Ganjam District of Orissa. He completed his school education in Brundaban Vidyapitha, Hinjilicut and got his B.A. Degree from the famous Khallikote College, Berhampur and obtained his M.A. Degree in Public Administration and Political Science from Berhampur University, Orissa. He produced a thesis on "Indian Press Perception of U.S. Presidential Election, 1980 - A content Analysis" He obtained his Ph.D. degree from Berhampur University in the year 1993.

Dr. Padhy worked as Assistant Controller of Examinations in the Berhampur University during 2001 to 2004. He was representing the University in the High Court cases on 32 examination matters. He also occupied various other administrative positions in the University before his superannuation. Dr. Padhy's areas of interest includes Orissa Administrative Tribunal, Public Administration and Political Sociology. However, his special interest lies in the practice of Astrology and conducting Hindu rituals

With the growth of administrative process on all Welfare States, the citizens' problem of getting quick and efficient decisions on matters affecting their economic life presented new phenomena of administrative justice. The classical rule of law gave into the concept of Administrative Tribunals to administer justice on specialized fields. French model of droit administratif with tis success story became the basis of the new innovating of Administrative Tribunals though in slightly different attire. Admerican zeal for Administrative law and agencies, British experiment of Administrative Tribunals made terrible impact on the new nations to import the system of Administrative justice, Administrative law and Administrative Tribunals.

Administrative law is the law made by the Administrative branch under the enabling clause in the main Act for the purpose of enforcing the provisions of the Act. The governmental authority, other than a Court or legislative body makes the Rules and Code through the power of rule making i.e. through subordinate legislation. In England, India, Canada and Commonwealth countries the term is used largely to include the mass of subordinate law produced by the Executive. It is probably better to designate this law by such names as tax law, labour law, transportation law, communications law etc. The great bulk of administrative law includes government made law. In 1929 Lord Hewart's book, The New Despotisms gave emphatic and emotional expression to the concern shared by most lawyers both in England and the U.S. But the British Committee on Minister's powers investigated and reported "no ground for public fear, if the right precautions are taken". This growth of Administrative law is a clear device to relieve the burden on the legislature.

Similarly, the genius of mankind has been able to promote the consequential apparatus of Administrative Tribunals to relieve the judiciary of tis ever growing burden in a welfare society with positive State Administrative Tribunals were established to expedite justice on socioeconomic matters affecting the lifeline of the people that warrant quick and cheap adjudication. French model became conspicuous in its success. British innovation of Administrative Tribunals was different but it was the British answer to the need of the hour. Further, it needs emphasis to note that it is beyond the competence of a judge to properly understand all the technicalities involved in special matters and give decision as an expert. As a layman he is liable to give wrong judgment. On the other hand, and administrative court will consist of experts and. as such, there is greater possibility of a right judgment and expert decision.

As Goodnow has remarked, administrative courts have show, themselves more favorable to individual rights where he is affected by the technical administrators than the ordinary courts. Further, litigation in administrative courts is cheap and speedy. The procedure is also simple, Therefore Administrative Courts have become popular in all countries under different attire.

In India, Law on Administrative Tribunal is very comprehensive and recently the Administrative Tribunal Act, 1985 was enforced. The Parliament of India while enacting this law has shown its special concern on the litigation explosion in respect of conditions of service of the Government employee-Central, State, local etc. - As a remedy, it has authorized the Central Government of India to establish Administrative Tribunals for the Central Government employees and others. Similarly, law provides for the establishment of State Administrative Tribunals to cover the employees of the State Government and others in like manner.

The law also enumerates the types of cases which can be tried by the State Administrative Tribunals. Such cases should be confined to the non-compliance of the rules on condition of service only.

It is relevant to note here that the cases falling under the jurisdiction of the Administrative Tribunals originate with the aggrieved employees against the non-compliance with the law relating to the conditions of service including recruitment, promotions, conduct, punishment, service benefits etc. The law on the Administrative Tribunal requires the Tribunal to adjudicate and ensure the compliance of the law relating to service by the government and its instrumentalities. The giagantic duty imposed by the law on Administrative Tribunal can be assessed from the vast spectrum of its coverage. It can touch any branch of the government, semi-government, quasi-government, local government, statutory bodies, autonomous bodies and so forth. The duty is further expanded by the scope of its power to seek compliance with laws/ rules on conditions of serive in respect of the servants of the above authorities.

Thus, the Administrative Tribunals have been established for State Government servants to adjudicate their grievances concerning service matters. The Orissa Administrative Tribunal was established in 1986 and it is working as a substitute for the Orissa High Court on all cases affecting government servants' service conditions.

The present study deals with the working of the Orissa Administrative Tribunals. It seeks to examine if the Tribunals has actually functioned as the perfect substitute of the High Court. Our major hypothesis is that (1) the Administrative Tribunal's decisions tend to confirm its perfect substitutability of the High Court. The second hypothesis to be tested is that "Administrative Tribunals is accessible even the lower class employees in Orissa". As regards methodology we have adopted analytical method along with content analysis in respect of the Tribunals' judgments delivered since 1986 to 1991.

The cases have been collected from the law Reporters published by the Legal Miscellance and personal interviews with the Advocates dealing with Tribunals Cases. The Tribunal's records were available for collecting materials. The focus has been on the evaluation of the decision for a specific objective. That is whether its judgments could be comparable with those of the High Courts in matters of Independence and application of judicial standards. Our study confirms our hypothesis.

We have the following findings: The study reveals that the Administrative Tribunal has functioned as a good substitute and ensured the compliance with the law by the government relating to the service conditions. The judgment's demonstrate that the Administrative Tribunals gives the decisions in the same way as the High Court does or did on service matters. Excepting one cases studied so far, there is no evidence to show that the Administrative Tribunal has sided with the bureaucrats. It has not spared anybody-Governor's staff, Secretaries, Chief Secretary or district level bosses.

The lone case where Supreme Court has assailed the conduct of the non-judicial Chairman related to the impropriety committed by the Chairman who gave judgment of a matter which was decided by him when he was the Chief Secretary of the Government of Orissa. Hence that tarnished the image temporarily. But this was an exception only.

The overall performance presents the picture of a judicious body acting as independently as the High Courts or Supreme Court in ensuring compliance with law relating to the service matters. V The study is divided into seven chapters. Chapter one deals with introduction and conceptual framework. Chapter two discusses on the law on general service conditions and discipline regulating the conduct of the civil servants.

Third chapter deals with the general features of the law on the Administrative Tribunals. Chapter four describes the composition and powers of the Orissa Administrative Tribunal. Chapter five deals with the working of the Orissa Administrative Tribunal and the analysis of its judgments. Sixth chapter highlights the impact of the Tribunal's judgment's on the bureaucrats on subsequent occasions. Chapter seven given a summary and conclusion.

**Contents and Sample Pages**