The Delhi High Court has held that appeal against any final decision or order passed by Armed Force Tribunal can only lie before Supreme Court.
The Division Bench comprising of Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Saurabh Banerjee observed that in terms of Section 30 of the Armed Forces Tribunal Act, 2007, Apex Court is the sole appellate court and there is no provision to approach any other forum(s) like the High Court.
Relying on its ruling in Wing Commander Shyam Naithani Vs Union of India & Ors, the Court clarified that High Court is merely playing the role in a supervisory jurisdiction rather than sitting as a Court of appeal over such final decisions or orders passed by the Tribunal.
Noitng that ordinarily no appeal from a final decision or order of the Tribunal can lie before the High Court, the Court said:
"As apparent therefrom, the scope of an appeal from a final decision or order of the Tribunal before the High Court is extremely limited and is restricted to the power of judicial review, which is to be exercised only when it is examining the decision-making process or when it is to interfere only for correcting the errors of jurisdiction or when it is for correcting errors apparent on the face of record or when the Tribunal acts illegally."
Further, the Court added that in terms of Section 34 of the Act, all pending matters, i.e., every petition, or other proceedings before any High Court or other forum(s) immediately before the date of establishment of the Tribunal under this Act, the cause of action whereon it is based, is such that it would have been within the jurisdiction of such Tribunal stood transferred before the Tribunal since its constitution.
"The Tribunal is exercising the similar jurisdiction and discharging the same function as being exercised by the High Court. Thus, no appeal from the Tribunal can/should lie before the High Court."
The Court dismissed the petition as 'non-maintainable'.
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