Service disputes taken out of the civil courts: the Article and the Act behind a State's administrative tribunal

Background

Kerala PSC's latest extraordinary gazette has thrown open Category Numbers 151/2026 to 161/2026, with applications running to 4 November. When a quarrel over such a recruitment, or over the service conditions of a State employee, reaches court, it goes to an administrative tribunal rather than to a civil court, and the route runs through the Constitution. Article 323A lets Parliament provide by law for the trial by administrative tribunals of disputes and complaints about recruitment and the conditions of service of people appointed to public services and posts under the Union, a State, a local authority or a government-owned corporation. A law made under it can set up one tribunal for the Union and a distinct one for each State or for two or more States together, fix each tribunal's jurisdiction and powers, including the power to punish for contempt, and lay down the procedure it follows. The law that carries this out is the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985. The Central Government establishes the Central Administrative Tribunal by notification, and it may establish an Administrative Tribunal for a State on receiving a request from that State Government. Two or more States can also agree, with the Centre's approval, to share a Joint Administrative Tribunal.