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CAT stalls Subramaniam's extension

The Central Administrative Tribunal on Friday declared as illegal the second extension granted to T S R Subramaniam as Cabinet secretary.

A two-member division bench, which heard a petition by Supreme Court advocate K S Chauhan and two organisations, said the office of the Cabinet secretary was now vacant and the government should make a fresh appointment.

The CAT bench, comprising Dr Jose P Verghese and S P Biswas, said the extension -- which was to have come into effect from January 1 -- was not permissible under the law.

Subramaniam was given the extension for three months through a December 8 order.

The bench had on December 31 stayed the extension, asking the government to produce the files concerned. On January 1, the government produced a small document, following which the bench asked it to swear that this constituted the entire record relating to the extension. The government asked for more time.

On Friday morning, the government filed an affidavit stating the document placed before the tribunal was the complete record relating to the matter. The case was deferred to the afternoon as the bench found some flaws in the affidavit.

While issuing an urgent notice to the government on December 31, CAT had restrained it and Subramaniam from issuing any orders or giving effect to any orders relating to the matter.

The petition was filed as a public interest litigation. Besides Dr Chauhan, the NBCC Workers and Employees Association and the P & T SC/ST Employees Association were involved in it. The petition had claimed the extension was illegal and mala fide. It alleged that Subramaniam had manipulated and extended his own service.

Further, Subramaniam had been victimising scheduled caste and scheduled tribe employees, the petition alleged. It also claimed that he was responsible for scuttling many welfare policies and programmes for the backward classes.

The government counsel argued that the extension had been given by the government and Subramaniam had never sought it.

UNI

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