Chandigarh, Aug 2 (IANS): Ending the week-long deadlock between striking lawyers and the state government over setting up the Haryana Administrative Tribunal, the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Friday deferred the implementation of its relevant notification.
Consequently, for redressal of their grievances, employees will continue approaching the high court directly, and not the tribunal.
The suspension of work called by the Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar Association to protest the tribunal, which entered the eight day on Friday, was called off.
The three-judge bench led by Chief Justice Krishna Murari took the decision to defer, for the time being, the implementation of the notification for setting up the administrative tribunal .
The Chief Justice intervened on the representation of the High Court Bar Association.
Justices Rajiv Sharma and R.K. Jain were the other judges on the bench.
A decision in this regard was arrived when Haryana Advocate General Baldev Raj Mahajan and Additional Solicitor General of India Satyapal Jain informed the bench that the government was ready to defer the implementation of the tribunal.
Last week, the Centre had issued a notification for setting up the tribunal for adjudication of the service matters of employees.
According to the protesting lawyers, setting up a quasi-judicial body like the tribunal encroached upon the judicial independence and powers of the high court.
On the other hand, the government claimed the tribunal will help lessen pendency of cases in the high court and lead to the timely redressal of the employees' grievances.
The Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana in a statement on Thursday said: "Tribunalisation" has "played havoc with the Indian judicial system by considerably diluting the constitutional remedies available under the Constitution of India".
It said the Bar Council opposes the establishment of tribunals, including the administrative tribunal, and resolved to support the High Court Bar Association.
Almost all major Bar Associations of Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh had been abstaining from work in support of the protest.