Supreme Court Reinstates High Courts' Authority over Armed Forces Tribunal

The 2015 ruling had left the defence community with few legal remedies since the AFT had become the first and last court of appeal for them. Prior to 2015, most litigants who were unhappy with AFT orders were challenging them in the jurisdictional High Courts of their respective states. However, the Supreme Court had ruled that the High Courts should not hear challenges to AFT orders due to a specific clause of appeal to the Supreme Court provided in the AFT Act. This left defence personnel, pensioners, and their families without legal recourse, as an appeal to the Supreme Court was only allowed if a point of law of general public importance was at stake.

The central government and the defence services started filing multiple appeals before the Supreme Court, even in cases that allowed minor benefits to defence personnel and pensioners, by claiming general public importance in every such appeal. Many litigants approached the Apex Court, pointing out that direct appeals to the Supreme Court made justice unaffordable and inaccessible, and sought the right to challenge such orders in High Courts. They argued that the right to challenge such orders must be provided to the High Courts on par with the rights provided to civilian employees and pensioners who could challenge orders of the Central Administrative Tribunal in the High Court. The matter was referred to a larger bench, which took note of the Constitution Bench decisions in L Chandra Kumar (1997) and Rojer Mathew (2019) cases. The Supreme Court's larger bench comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Abhay S Oka, and BV Nagarathna overruled the earlier decision in Union of India Vs Maj Gen Shri Kant Sharma and held that the High Courts would have jurisdiction over judgments of the AFT.

As a result of this ruling, the appeals that were dismissed by various High Courts due to the decision in Shri Kant Sharma's case will now be heard by High Courts. The Apex Court has also remanded back to the High Court a direct appeal filed in the Supreme Court by the government in a service-related matter. This decision has come as a big relief to the defence community, which had been rendered almost remediless in 2015.