Pardeep Kumar vs Union Of India & Anr.

C. Hari Shankar, J.

At the outset, we notice that the cause of action in this case relates to recruitment of civilian personnel in the Indian Navy.

As service matters relating to civilians in defence forces come within the jurisdiction of the Central Administrative Tribunal, in view of the judgment of the seven Judge Bench of the Supreme Court in L Chandra Kumar v Union of India^{11.(1997) 3 SCC 261}, we cannot exercise jurisdiction in this case as a court of first instance.

This petition would, therefore, have to be decided by the Central Administrative Tribunal.

However, in order to do substantial justice, the petitioner is at liberty to obtain an electronic copy of the record of this case from the Registry of this Court within three days and file it with the Central Administrative Tribunal, Principal Bench, which would then register it as an Original Application and proceed with the matter in accordance with law.

The pleadings in the matter, and orders passed thus far, would be treated as a part of the record of the Tribunal.

To expedite matters, we direct the parties to appear before the Central Administrative Tribunal, Principal Bench, on 10 October 2025.

We clarify that we have not expressed any opinion on the merits of the dispute.

The writ petition is disposed of in the aforesaid terms.