Delhi High Court Says HCs Have Powers To Review Judgments Of Armed Forces Tribunals

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday (1 February), held that high courts have the jurisdiction and powers of judicial review against the orders of the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT).

The full bench of Justices Manmohan, Suresh Kumar Kait, and Neena Bansal Krishna was answering a reference seeking a clarification of whether the right to appeal against final orders of AFT excludes the remedy of judicial review by a High Court (HC).

The reference was made when it was felt that there may be a “difference of opinion” between two different benches in previous cases of Major Nishikant Kaushik vs. Union of India and Wing Commander Shyam Naithani vs. Union of India.

The bench said that the issue has already been decided by the Supreme Court in the Balkrishna Ram vs. Union of India (2020), where the top court held that appeals from AFTs could be decided by HCs.

It held that the writ jurisdiction of high courts for judicial review is not completely ousted by the statutory appeal mechanism provided under Sections 30 and 31 of the AFT Act, 2007.

The court, therefore, held the matter to not be res integra, a term used to refer to matters which have so far not been touched by law or remain undecided.

The Delhi High Court had previously allowed armed forces personnel to move the court against AFT’s decisions on salaries, pensions, etc.