HC Rejects Plea For Stay On SAT Abolition Order

Cuttack: The Orissa High Court on Wednesday rejected the plea for a stay on abolition of the Odisha State Administrative Tribunal (SAT).

Though the court did not give any ruling on the pending of cases, it asked the central and the state governments to furnish a reply on this matter.

The court posted the next hearing of the case to September 5.

Notably, the Centre, in a gazette notification on July 5, had announced abolition of the Odisha SAT under Section 4(2) of the Administrative Tribunal Act, 1985 and Section 21 of the General Clauses Act.

Protesting against the abolition of the Tribunal, president of the Cuttack SAT Bar Association, Dhuliram Patnaik, had told the media that they would file a writ petition in the High Court challenging the notification. “While about 70,000 cases are pending in the SAT for disposal and Justice KR Mahapatra are hearing those cases, the central notification for the abolition of the Tribunal is grossly illegal,” he added.

The Odisha SAT was set up on July 14, 1986. Later, the Odisha Cabinet in a meeting on September 9, 2015, decided to abolish the tribunal. The state government later placed a proposal to this effect before the Orissa High Court under whose recommendation, the Centre abolished the tribunal.