Speech by Shri. Rajeev Chandrasekhar, MP during the discussion of

Armed Forces Tribunal Bill, 2005 in

Rajya Sabha on 3^rd December 2007

Thank you for the opportunity to speak on this bill. 

Sir, We all recognize that the Armed forces of our country are one of the most highly respected institutions of our country - Respected for their demonstrated abilities of professionalism and patriotism. Indians today from all walks of life remain inspired by the stories of Valour and unflinching patriotism demonstrated by names like Maj Harshan or Col Vasanth in recent times or Nirmaljit Sekhon, Abdul Hamid, Albert Ekka in times past. As son of a Proud Air force officer, I believe it’s our duty to do whatever we can to continue to sustain the dignity of the Services and the women and men who serve in these services. 

Sir, while the Armed forces remain a professional and committed family of Officers and men and their family, it is inevitable that there would be disputes and issues that need resolution. So far these disputes have got settled within the respective services. In recent times, there have been increasing instances where Armed forces personnel have been dissatisfied with the internal dispute/legal process and chosen to appeal to High courts. 

This bill is aimed at creating a smoother, quicker and a more dignified way to adjudicate these appeals and I welcome it. I completely support the objectives of this bill. I only wish that this bill hadn’t take 2 years to pass, especially there are many similar tribunals that have been enacted through Parliament. I would urge Parliament to ensure that bills that deal with the Armed forces and other Services are focussed on with more urgency and that we don’t subject them to such delays in the future. 

Sir, the objectives of the tribunal are two fold – one is to expedite the adjudication of appeals and the second is to create a bench that understands better the nuances of disputes arising in the Armed forces, that are usually very different from normal civil, criminal or contractual disputes that crowd our courts. I wish to draw the attention of the Minister to some practical issues that will actually be far more important in determining the success of this tribunal than just the bill itself. 

Sir, for the two objectives to be realized, the main issues will be that of the people who compose the tribunal and the case capability and capacity that’s built in to the secretariat and infrastructure to handle the necessary volumes of cases to ensure speedy disposal. 

Experience with some other tribunals/Regulators formed by Parliament with strong support in terms of law, have been less than stellar and I believe the main reason has been the lack of focus on these practical points. 

Therefore I would strongly recommend three specific points to the Minister in connection with the operationalizing of this bill. 

Firstly, I urge the Minister to ensure that only the most capable and committed people are appointed on the tribunal and its secretariat.  I will strongly request the Minister that this tribunal not be another parking place for political favourites or retirees looking for a relaxed pace of work. Additionally I would also urge him to make an amendment in Section 6(1) that the Chairman of the Tribunal could also be a Retired Chief of one of the Services, subject to one of the members being a retired Justice. This is a very practical suggestion since the appeal of this tribunal will eventually anyway lie in the Supreme Court. 

Secondly, I urge the minister to ensure that the secretariat, infrastructure capacity and budget are planned at this stage to be  large enough to handle large number of cases so that there are no people/infrastructure related capacity constraints that come in the way of ensuring that adjudicatory work of the tribunal is expeditious 

Thirdly, I would recommend that for the first 1 or 2 years of the tribunal, the ministry tracks the performance and operations of the tribunal from a point of view of pro-actively working to ensuring its speedy and smooth operationalizing. 

Let me end by saying again, that I support this bill and hope that the minister will take note of my suggestions. 

Jai Hind