E-Paper
CAT dismisses Uttarakhand plea against order to reinstate Rajiv Bhartari
Bhartari, a 1986 batch officer, was removed as PCCF on November 25, 2021, and appointed as chairman of Uttarakhand Biodiversity Board.
DEHRADUN: The Central Administrative Tribunal has dismissed the Uttarakhand government’s review application against the tribunal’s February 24 order that required the state government to reinstate Indian Forest Service (IFoS) officer Rajiv Bhartari as Uttarakhand’s principal chief conservator of forest (PCCF) and head of forest force (HoFF).
In its request, the state government said Rajiv Bhartari’s case was transferred from a division bench to a single bench without any administrative or judicial order and insisted that government was well within its rights to transfer out an official before completion of his tenure under the rules.
Bhartari, a 1986 batch officer, was removed as PCCF on November 25, 2021, and appointed as chairman of Uttarakhand Biodiversity Board.
Rajiv Bhartari challenged his transfer before the tribunal, pointing that the chairman’s post was normally occupied by a joint secretary-level official and that his transfer was ordered before the minimum prescribed tenure of two years, thus violating the rules.
In his order on Monday, a single bench of CAT Allahabad (Nainital Circuit) justice Om Prakash cited the CAT chairman’s 2021 order that requires all cases relating to posting and transfer to be heard by a single bench.
The tribunal said the state government’s action “shows malice against the applicant… In the case of Somesh Tiwari Vs. UOI and others, Apex Court has clearly held that when an order of transfer is passed in lieu of punishment, the same is liable to be set aside being wholly illegal. In the instant case, if the inaction of the applicant was blemish, then the some other action should be taken by the respondents instead of transferring him. It is fact that no charge sheet was on record against the applicant at the time of final hearing. If the applicant was not performing his duty very well on the post of PCCF (HoFF), then also at least the procedure prescribed for the transfer should be followed by the department but proper procedure has not been followed by the department”.
The bench underlined that a review court does not sit in appeal over its own order and a rehearing of the matter is impermissible in law. “The scope of review is very limited and it is not permissible for the tribunal to act as an appellate authority in respect of original order passing a fresh order and re-hearing of the matter to facilitate a change of opinion on merits.. Considering the observations of the Apex Court as well as facts and circumstances of the case, I do not find any error apparent on the face of record in the order…Accordingly, the Review Application is dismissed,” the bench added.
