Services fight over allocation of posts for principal Bench The much awaited Armed Forces Tribunal will miss its deadline of August 15 set by Defence Minister A K Antony even as the three services are fighting over the allocation of posts for the principal Bench.
The tribunal is the Armed Forces version of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) that is designed to give a quick reprieve on grievances ranging from promotion matters, pensions, court martial decisions and appointments.
Antony, who has championed the cause of the independent forum to redress service related grievances of Armed Forces personnel, had made it clear in a Gazette notification on June 13 that the principal Bench of the tribunal be set up in the Capital by August 15.
While the Cabinet approved the creation of posts for the tribunal last month, a bitter quarrel has now broken amongst the services over the number of members that would represent each Armed Force at the tribunal.
The tribunal will consist of a chairperson, 14 judicial members and 15 administrative members. The tussle is over the administrative members (rank of Major General and above) that are to be selected from within the Armed Forces.
Sources in the ministry say the Army is insisting on a quota system for appointments to the Bench based on the number of personnel in each service to ensure that it gets a majority of the 15 seats.
However, the Navy and Air Force have joined hands once again after the A V Singh Committee controversy — in which they had taken on the Army’s demand for a greater share of General rank posts — and have demanded a merit-based selection procedure.
Meanwhile, litigants whose cases have to be transferred to the tribunal from various high courts in the country are getting jittery over the delay as most courts are giving long adjournments in anticipation of the tribunal. Over 9,800 cases filed by service personnel are pending before various high courts.
Armed Forces Tribunal likely to miss deadline
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