NEW DELHI, Jan 2: The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) today struck down the three-month extension given to Cabinet Secretary T S R Subramanian. At the same time, it vacated its stay order and allowed the Government to reappoint him through a fresh order.Although it is expected that Subramanian will be back as Cabinet Secretary, a government spokesman today reacted cautiously to the CAT order and refused to confirm this. He said the Government was awaiting a copy of the Tribunal's order after which ``appropriate legal steps available'' will be taken.Subramanian did not attend office again today in view of the controversy that has arisen over his extension following the intervention by CAT.A division bench comprising CAT vice-chairman Jose P Verghese and member Judge S P Biswas told a packed courtroom this afternoon that the extension granted to Subramanian was ``bad in law'' and did not ``stand the test of legality''.It held that the post now stands vacant and gave the Government a way out of a sticky situation by adding that the Government was at liberty to reappoint Subramanian to the post ``in accordance with the rules''. The Tribunal had stayed on Wednesday the operation of the December 8 order extending Subramanian's services following a petition filed by Supreme Court advocate K S Chauhan and two organisations, the NBCC and the SC/ST P&T Employees Federation.Appealing for a vacation of the stay, the Government had yesterday argued that the petitioners had no locus standi to question the extension and pointed out that the Tribunal's order had created administrative difficulties.
