Service Tribunals Act, 1973

The Service Tribunals Act, 1973 creates Service Tribunals — special courts that exclusively handle disputes about the terms and conditions of service of civil servants, including disciplinary matters. It applies to all civil servants wherever they serve.

Section 3 lets the President establish one or more Tribunals by notification, each with a Chairman (someone qualified to be a High Court judge) and at least three other members drawn from District Judges, senior government officers with quasi-judicial experience, or advocates qualified for High Court appointment. The Chairman and members serve non-extendable three-year terms. Section 3A allows a Tribunal's work to be split among Benches of at least two members, with majority-vote and Chairman-tiebreaker rules for split decisions.

Section 4 lets an aggrieved civil servant appeal a departmental order to a Tribunal within thirty days of being notified of it, or within six months of the Tribunal being set up, whichever is later — but only after first pursuing any departmental appeal or review process and waiting ninety days for it to be decided. Appeals against dismissal, removal, compulsory retirement, or reduction in rank go to the Tribunal described in Section 3(3). Section 4A allows a Tribunal to review its own final order within thirty days on grounds like newly discovered evidence or an apparent error, and it must decide the review within thirty days.

Section 5 gives Tribunals the powers of a civil court under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, including compelling witness attendance and document production, and lets a Tribunal confirm, set aside, vary, or modify the order under appeal. Section 5A makes the Tribunal's Registrar the Principal Accounting Officer and lets the Chairman re-appropriate funds within the Tribunal's budget. Section 6 abates suits pending in ordinary courts over matters within a Tribunal's jurisdiction when the Act commenced, though parties could still appeal to the Tribunal within ninety days. Section 7 applies the general limitation rules from the Limitation Act, 1908.

This is a 1973 law that has been substantially amended over time — notably in 1974, 1978, 1997, and 2014, as the footnotes show — so anyone relying on specific numbers such as the thirty-day appeal window or Tribunal composition should check the current official text, since these details have shifted with successive amendments.