High Courts have power of judicial review over Armed Forces Tribunal orders and judgments: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court has held that High Courts have the jurisdiction and powers of judicial review against the orders of the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) [Amar Singh Ex NB Sub & Ors v. Union of India & Ors]. .A Full Bench of Justices Manmohan, Suresh Kumar Kait and Neena Bansal Krishna pronounced its judgment today, holding that the writ jurisdiction of High Courts is not completely ousted by the statutory appeal mechanism provided under Sections 30 and 31 of the Armed Forces Tribunal Act, 2007. The Court added that this issue is no longer res integra in terms of the Supreme Court's decision in Balkrishna Ram v. Union of India and Anr. .The Full Bench was constituted after it was noted that there may be a difference of opinion between two benches on the issue of powers of the High Court to deal with petitions against decisions of the Armed Forces Tribunal. .In the case of Major Nishant Kaushik v. Union of India and Ors, a Division Bench of the Court (of which Justice Kait was a part) had held that the statutory appeal against an order of the AFT lies only with the Supreme Court.However, the bench had also said that the remedy of judicial review against the orders of the Armed Forces Tribunal does lie with the High Court under its writ jurisdiction..On the other hand, in the case of Wing Commander Shyam Naithani v. Union of India and Ors, another Division Bench (of which Justice Manmohan was a part) held that the jurisdiction of High Courts under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution cannot be bypassed merely by making a provision for direct appeal to the Supreme Court.It was held that the apex court exercises jurisdiction under Sections 30 and 31 of the AFT Act only if a point of law of general public importance is involved..After considering both the cases, the Full Bench held that there is no difference of opinion in Shyam Naithani and in Major Nishant Kaushik."...both the decisions reiterate and acknowledge the jurisdiction of the High Court for Judicial Review against the Orders of the Armed Forces. The reference is answered accordingly," the Court said..Senior Advocate Naveen R Nath and Advocates Suraj Mal Dalal, Randhir Singh Kalkal, Varun Singh, Alankriti Dwivedi, Akshay Dev, Ytharth Kumar, Pankaj Kumar Modi, Rahul Jain, PK Dhaka, Ankur Chibber, Karn Deo Baghel, HS Tiwari, Anshuman Mehrotra, Nikunj Arora, Arjun Panwar, PM Tiwari and Deepak Bansal appeared for the petitioners. Central Government Standing Counsel Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar, along with Advocates Srish Kumar Mishra, Sagar Mehlawat, Alexander Mathai Paikaday, Shubhra Parashar, Virender Pratap Singh Charak, Dev P Bhardwaj, Anubha Bhardwaj, Vikram Jetly, Shreya Jetly, Rajendra Sahu, Akhil Anand and Sushil Raaja appeared for the Union of India. .[Read Judgment]