Armed Forces Tribunal came into existence through Act of the Indian Parliament in 2007. Let us know why AFT and what comes under its jurisdiction. The need was felt that there should be a separate Armed Forces Tribunal to hear cases of armed forces personnel and their families seeking justice against what they consider unjust. Owing to large pendency, ordinary courts are not able to cope with the huge number of cases pending with them and if the cases of the armed forces are to be put in the queue, then it will take pretty long time to deliver justice to the aggrieved party. Secondly, it is difficult for the armed forces or their families to travel long distances from the nooks and corners of the country to the place where the Tribunal is stationed. Defence personnel are posted in far off places and borders of the country especially those who are to work close to cease fire line with Pakistan and China. For them it is very difficult to travel all the way to attend a court case. And finally there are many confidential things which should not be discussed in open court as the interests and security of the nation are to be respected at all costs.
Armed Forces Tribunal has regional branches at Chandigarh, Lucknow, Kolkata, Guwahati, Chennai, Kochi, Mumbai and Jaipur. There was no branch of armed forces in J&K. This means that any soldier belonging to J&K or his family member, if they wanted justice against some unjust done to them had to travel all the way to the nearest branch and make presentation before the court of law. The policy of the government has been to provide the Armed Forces Tribunal to take care of the cases of service personnel so that justice is done to them quickly.
Good news for the armed forces personnel in J&K is that the Government has established full-fledged branch of AFT for the State. It is located in the Military Station at Sunjuwan. The full fledged branch has begun its work from 17th November. A formal function was organized for the opening of the J&K branch originally meant to be set up in Srinagar but temporarily located in Sunjuwan, Jammu. The Chief Justice of J&K High Court along with a large galaxy of judicial and military officers was present at the function. Addressing the gathering, Chief Justice said that about 425 cases have been pending with the High Court and these would be transferred to the AFT for early disposal.
The Armed Forces Tribunal Act gives the Tribunal original as well as appellate jurisdiction to decide grievances of the members of armed forces about their appointment, tenure, remuneration, seniority, promotion, superannuation and retirement benefits etc. We learn that there are cases of armed forces personnel pending in the State High Court since 2002 and there seems no chance of these being disposed of soon. No justice can be done to the aggrieved if decision on these cases is delayed. In a sense the Armed Forces Tribunal is a substitute to the High Court and the Tribunal is vested with powers like civil court with respect to summoning of witnesses, production of documents and recording of evidence. It is also empowered to reappraise facts and evidence while deciding validity of Court Martial orders. It is also vested with power to punish for contempt up to three years imprisonment. In his address at the function, the Chief Justice raised a very important point for the consideration of those who are supposed to enforce the rule of law and exercise judicial powers. It pertained to proportionality of punishment particularly when strict discipline was required to be enforced. His views were that while discipline was the mainstay of defence forces culture, yet a Tribunal should not enforce discipline at the cost of humanism and objective justice. He was indirectly suggesting the Armed Forces Tribunal not to remain restricted to the clause of discipline alone but to take a broader and essentially humanistic view of a case when brought to it for adjudication. We think that this is a good decision taken by the Defence Ministry and the armed forces personnel will find that their cases receive attention in time and grievances are removed without loss of time.
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