Judgment

SEN, J. :- In this special leave petition a question was raised regarding the authority and jurisdiction of the Central Administrative Tribunal constituted under the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985 to strike down as constitutionally invalid a rule framed by the President of India under the proviso to Art. 309 of the Constitution as being violative of Arts. 14 and 16(l) of the Constitution. That depends on a construction of Ss. 14(l), 28 and 29(l) of the Act, as amended, read in the light of Art. 323A of the Constitution. Since the question raised was of far reaching importance we issued a notice to the learned Attorney-General to appear and assist the Court. We heard learned Counsel for the parties including the Union of India on the question at considerable length and reserved judgment. We were later informed by the learned Counsel the same question had been argued before a Constitution Bench and its judgment was awaited, and they requested us to defer the judgment.

2. In S. P. Sampath Kumar v. Union of India, 1986 JT (SC) 996: (AIR 1987 SC 386), the Constitution Bench has held that the Act is a law made by Parliament under Cl. (1) of Art. 323A to exclude the jurisdictio