Employee associations can go to administrative tribunals if they provide a list of their members, according to the Kerala High Court.
The Kerala High Court has stated that employee associations can file petitions with Administrative Tribunals. This clarification came during a hearing of an Original Petition questioning whether an association’s application could be accepted by the Kerala Administrative Tribunal. The Tribunal had previously ruled that the application was not valid because it was submitted by an association. A Division Bench, consisting of Justice A. Muhamed Mustaque and Justice P.M. Manoj, explained that if multiple individuals are involved, they can collectively submit a petition through an association, but a list of those individuals must be provided.
The Court highlighted that the term ‘person’ in Section 19 of the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985 includes associations. Additionally, Section 3(42) of the General Clauses Act, 1897 also defines ‘person’ to include associations or groups of individuals. According to Section 19, anyone affected by a Tribunal’s order can apply for a remedy. Section 20 specifies that the Tribunal will typically not accept an application unless the applicant has used all available remedies under the relevant service rules for addressing grievances.
The Court stated that reading the two provisions together shows that only the individuals with grievances can bring their cases to the Tribunal. It pointed out that a previous Division Bench ruled that a transfer order made against an executive order can only be challenged by the affected person, not by the association. The Court agreed that individuals must challenge transfer orders on their own, but if there are many affected individuals, they can still support their case through an association, which can also be seen as aggrieved.
The Court explained that an Original Application on behalf of association members can happen in two situations: when an association represents individual grievances or when it addresses common grievances of its members. In both cases, the application is valid.
However, the Court added that for the first situation, a list of aggrieved individuals must be provided to the Tribunal. In the second situation, the association can represent common grievances, such as challenging rules or transfer norms, even if the individuals are not identical. The Court noted that the Tribunal had “blindly followed” a Kerala High Court ruling that stated an association cannot file an application without an individual in transfer cases.
Regarding the current case, the Court concluded that the request to represent as an association before the Tribunal was “legally sustainable.”
Cause Title: Kerala State Government Ayurveda Medical Officers’ Association v. State Of Kerala [2024:KER:80500]
Appearance:
Petitioner: Advocates R.Reji Kumar and P.R.Jayakrishnan
Respondent: Senior Government Pleader A.J. Varghese
