An advocate has approached the Madras high court to restrain administrative members of Central Administrative Tribunals (CAT) from wearing judges’ robes during hearings.

The lawyer contended that as per the tribunal rules, only a practising lawyer or a judge could wear such robes & not ‘administrative members’, who are mostly Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers.

Admitting the public interest litigation (PIL), a division bench of Justice M Sathyanarayanan & Justice N Seshasayee ordered notice to the Union ministry of law & justice, returnable in eight weeks.

According to advocate N Kanagasabai, Central Administrative Tribunals (CAT) was established through Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985. It was meant for speedy disposal of cases pertaining to central government employee service matters.

The benches of such tribunal comprise of judicial members, who are mostly retired judges, & administrative members, mostly drawn from Indian Administrative Service (IAS) & Indian Police Service (IPS).

In December 1991, the then chairman of the principal bench of the tribunal issued an order prescribing dress code in which it was directed that the members of Central Administrative Tribunals (CAT) — both judicial & administrative — can wear the same type of robes. The robes of Central Administrative Tribunals (CAT) members thereby became the same as those worn by judges of the Supreme/high courts & designated senior advocates, the petitioner claimed.

Administrative members, who are civil servants & not from the judiciary, are inappropriately permitted to sport the same robe, he said, adding that most of the administrative members neither hold a law degree nor were entitled to be enrolled as advocates.

But, unfortunately, these administrative members are permitted to wear robes, including neck bands & gowns of advocates, which is against the provisions of the Advocates Act & the Bar Council Rules, Kanagasabai said while asking the court to direct the ministry to amend the dress code appropriately.

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