Why in news:

• Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has recently approved the setting up of a permanent bench of the Rajasthan Civil Services Appellate Tribunal in Jodhpur.

Key Points:

• He also approved the proposal to hold meetings of the Jodhpur temporary bench on 8 effective days in every month till the formation of a permanent bench in Jodhpur.
• It is important to note here that the decision has been made in compliance of the interim orders of the Rajasthan High Court dated 19.7.2022 in response to a civil writ petition.
• With this decision, the process for the establishment of a permanent bench of the tribunal at Jodhpur will be initiated in accordance with the provisions prescribed in the Rajasthan Civil Services Appellate Tribunal Act, 1976 and the Rajasthan Civil Services Appellate Tribunal Rules, 1976.
  
  
  
  
   

Rajasthan Civil Services Appellate Tribunal:

• In the sixty years following the enforcement of the Indian Constitution, India's population more than doubled which in turn also led to a great increase in the weight of litigation before the Indian courts.
• As the pendency in the Courts increased, government's attention was drawn to this aspect concerning delay in justice, huge backlog and prolonged litigation. Soon, government started looking for ways and means to relieve the case load of the courts so that people’s faith in the judicial systems remained intact.
• In 1969, a committee was set up by the Central Government under the Chairmanship of Justice Shah of the Supreme Court to make recommendations suggesting ways and means for effective, expeditious and satisfactory disposal of matters relating to service disputes of government servants as it was found that a sizeable portion of pending litigations related to this category.
• The Shah committee recommended the setting up of independent tribunals to handle only service matters. While this report was still engaging the attention of the central government, the Administrative Reforms Commission also took note of the situation and recommended the setting up Civil Services Tribunals to deal with the cases and appeals of government servants.
• In May 1976, a conference of Chief Secretaries of the states discussed this problem and the Rajasthan state government decided to enact an Act for this purpose.
• The Rajasthan Civil Services Appellate Tribunal has been established on 1st July, 1976 under the Rajasthan Civil Services (Service Matters Appellate Tribunal) Act, 1976 for the adjudication of disputes and complaints with respect to service matters and matters incidental thereto of government servants.
• It has been expected that the setting up of the Tribunal to deal exclusively with service matters would go a long way in not only reducing the burden of various courts especially the High Court and thereby give more time to the mainstream judicial system to deal with other cases expeditiously.
• Additionally, the tribunals would also provide persons covered by the Act speedy relief in respect of their grievances such as pension, pay fixation and promotion etc.