CDA decision, maintaining that if the management had provided an effective, independent and impartial dispute resolution mechanism earlier, there would have been no need for such a large number of its employees to have approached this Court by invoking the jurisdiction under Article 199 of the Constitution.
The IHC also directed the Federal Government through the Establishment Division to make the CDA like arrangements in other government entitles. It directed the government to take necessary steps for ensuring ‘inexpensive and expeditious justice’ to the employees who fall in the categories amenable to the jurisdiction of this Court under Article 199 of the Constitution by proposing to the Parliament legislative enactment for establishing an appropriate appellate forum. “The Federal Government shall comply with this direction preferably within 60 days,” the order said. The order noted that most employees, particularly in the lower grades, with their meager salaries, find it virtually impossible to approach the High Court and as a result retire without a remedy, thereby suffering grave miscarriages of justice. Those who are fortunate to bear the high cost of litigation and are able to overcome the limitations and trappings of Article 199, are faced with enduring a long wait while the courts struggle to find time to properly hear and decide their petitions, which rank low on the priority list.
The judgment added, “A favorable verdict is also of no avail, as the organizations invariably drag the employees to a higher judicial forum. Even the fortunate employees who are able to approach a High Court, ultimately become victims of miscarriages of justice, finding it difficult to outweigh the strength of the employers in pursuing litigation.”
The judgment noted that the law relating to the right of access to justice is unequivocally well settled. It is an inviolable right inextricably linked, or in other words an integral part of the right to life guaranteed under Article 9 of the Constitution, and after the eighteenth amendment Article 10-A as well, guaranteeing a fair trial and due process.