In short. If the Allahabad Bench of CAT at Prayagraj decided your case, the writ goes to the Allahabad High Court at Prayagraj; if the Lucknow Bench decided it, the writ goes to the High Court's Lucknow Bench. A Division Bench hears it under Articles 226 and 227. There is no fixed limitation, but the court refuses relief for unexplained delay, so aim to file within weeks of the certified copy. Admission can come in weeks; a final decision often takes one to three years. Start by getting the certified copy and checking which CAT bench signed the order.
Is this your situation?
- Your OA was dismissed by the CAT Allahabad Bench at Prayagraj or by the Lucknow Bench.
- You won at the tribunal, and the department has filed a writ against you in the High Court.
- You are posted or living in Uttar Pradesh and are unsure whether to file at Prayagraj or Lucknow.
- The tribunal refused interim relief, or dismissed your case on limitation, and you think that was wrong.
- Your review application was rejected and the original order now needs a challenge.
- Your OA was decided years ago at the Allahabad Bench while you were in Uttarakhand, and the forum now looks unclear.
- You are a state government or CAPF employee in UP, and are not sure whether this route applies to you at all.
Prayagraj or Lucknow: look at which CAT bench signed the order
The seat of the High Court follows the seat of the tribunal bench that decided your case, not your home district, your office or the place where the dispute started. If the order is headed "Central Administrative Tribunal, Allahabad Bench, Allahabad", the writ is filed at the principal seat of the Allahabad High Court in Prayagraj. If it is headed "Lucknow Bench, Lucknow", the writ is filed at the High Court's Lucknow Bench in Gomti Nagar.
That neat rule hides a common confusion. The two CAT benches split Uttar Pradesh by district, and the two seats of the High Court also split the state by district, along the old Oudh line. The lists are similar but people still mix them up, especially in Kanpur, Pratapgarh and the new districts carved out of old ones. Where you live is not the test. A Kanpur resident whose OA was heard at Lucknow because his office was in Unnao goes to the Lucknow seat of the High Court.
Before anything else, take out the tribunal's order and read its heading. It tells you where to go. The registry at each seat of the High Court looks at this when it reports on a fresh petition. An honest mistake costs a return and a refiling, which is a few weeks lost, but a petition filed at the wrong seat because someone thought it might be listed faster there will be viewed less kindly. Even if the final hearing took place by video, the heading still names the deciding bench. If the case was transferred between benches before decision, the bench that pronounced the final order is the one that counts.
Which court hears which order
| Where the tribunal order came from | Where the writ is filed | Point to watch |
|---|---|---|
| CAT Allahabad Bench (covers most UP districts, including Ghaziabad, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Meerut, Agra, Kanpur, Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Jhansi) | Allahabad High Court, Prayagraj | Western UP litigants often assume Delhi; the Delhi High Court has no role here |
| CAT Lucknow Bench (Lucknow and the notified central UP districts such as Unnao, Hardoi, Sitapur, Barabanki, Ayodhya, Sultanpur, Rae Bareli, Pratapgarh, Gonda, Bahraich) | Allahabad High Court, Lucknow Bench | Pratapgarh sits next to Prayagraj but belongs to the Lucknow side |
| Uttarakhand case decided by the Allahabad Bench before July 2023 | Not settled; the answer may be Prayagraj or Nainital | Take advice on the current view before filing |
| Uttarakhand case decided by the Principal Bench after July 2023 | Usually the Delhi High Court, though the question is not settled | See the Delhi High Court route |
| Order of a UP State Public Services Tribunal | Allahabad High Court, at the seat for that district | This is a state matter, not a CAT matter |
Why it must be the High Court first, not the Supreme Court
When Parliament set up the tribunal in 1985, Section 28 of the Act shut out the High Courts and left only an appeal to the Supreme Court by special leave. Seven judges of the Supreme Court read that exclusion down in L. Chandra Kumar (1997). Since then, any CAT order can be questioned by writ, and the court to approach is the High Court in whose area the deciding bench is located, with two judges sitting together. The Supreme Court comes next, not first.
So an employee who lost at Prayagraj cannot file an SLP directly against the tribunal's order. The Supreme Court will send him back to the High Court. The only practical exception is where a High Court has already decided the identical legal question for many employees and the Supreme Court is seized of it, and even then the Supreme Court usually expects the High Court route to be taken.
A single judge does not hear these writs. Because the tribunal itself replaced the High Court as the first forum, the writ against it is heard by two judges together. That is why the papers are drawn up for a Division Bench and listed before a bench that has the roster for service writs against tribunal orders.
The provisions you will see cited
Article 226, Constitution of India
Gives the High Court power to quash an order by certiorari and to issue other directions. Against a CAT order, the court uses it when the tribunal went beyond its powers, decided without a fair hearing, or reached a finding that the record cannot support.
Article 227, Constitution of India
Superintendence over courts and tribunals in the High Court's territory. Petitions against CAT orders commonly invoke both articles. Article 227 lets the court keep the tribunal within the bounds of its authority, but it is not a route to a fresh look at the facts.
L. Chandra Kumar v. Union of India (Supreme Court, 1997)
The case that put the High Courts back in the chain. For UP, it means the Allahabad High Court, at the seat matching the CAT bench, before any trip to Tilak Marg in New Delhi.
United Provinces High Courts (Amalgamation) Order, 1948
When the Oudh Chief Court was folded into the Allahabad High Court, a permanent bench was kept at Lucknow to hear matters from the Oudh districts. That is the historical reason the High Court has two seats, and why the Lucknow seat hears matters from the central UP districts.
Allahabad High Court Rules, 1952
Contain the procedure for writ petitions, including the requirement of a supporting affidavit and the format of the petition. The registry and its stamp reporting section check each petition against these rules before it is listed.
What the Division Bench will and will not do
The writ is not a second trial. The judges will not reweigh evidence that the tribunal considered, and they will not substitute their view of the facts for a reasonable view the tribunal took. What they will do is ask whether the tribunal applied the correct rules, whether it ignored material evidence, whether it heard both sides, whether it decided a question it had no power to decide, and whether its conclusion is one any reasonable tribunal could reach.
In practice, writs succeed most often on a few kinds of ground. The tribunal treated a continuing wrong, such as wrong pay fixation, as time-barred. It upheld a penalty although the inquiry denied the employee documents he had asked for. It read a DoPT office memorandum against its plain words. It ignored a binding Supreme Court judgment that was cited before it. Writs rarely succeed where the complaint is only that the tribunal believed the department's witness and not yours. The guide on grounds for a writ against a tribunal order sorts the strong grounds from the weak ones with more examples.
The department knows these limits too. When it challenges a tribunal order you won, its writ often argues that the tribunal granted relief beyond the rules, or extended a benefit to you that the Supreme Court has confined to a narrower class. Your counter affidavit has to meet those points directly.
How quickly you need to file
Unlike an OA, a writ has no period written into any Act. What the judges apply instead is delay and laches: a petitioner who sat on his rights may be turned away. A writ filed within a month or two of the certified copy of the tribunal's order rarely meets objection. Six months, and you need a good explanation. A year or more, especially where seniority or promotions have been acted upon in between, and the court may decline to interfere even if you are right on merits.
If you first filed a review before the tribunal, the time it took will usually be accepted, provided the review was bona fide and you moved quickly after it was decided. Explain the dates in a short paragraph of the petition; do not leave the judges to work it out.
Where you are defending a writ filed by the department, timing works the other way. Your aim is to get the writ heard and finished. A caveat lodged in the High Court soon after the tribunal's order means you get notice before any interim order is passed against you, which can make a real difference when arrears or reinstatement are at stake.
Filing a service writ at Prayagraj or Lucknow
The sequence below is the one Advocate B.K. Singh follows for writs against UP tribunal orders, whichever seat they go to.
Get the certified copy from the CAT bench
Apply at the registry of the Allahabad or Lucknow Bench for a certified copy of the final order, and of the review order if any. The writ is filed with the certified copy or, where permitted, a copy with an undertaking to file the certified copy.
Collect the tribunal record
The High Court will want the OA, the counter reply, the rejoinder and the key annexures. These are filed as annexures to the writ. Without them the court cannot see what was argued below.
Draft the petition and grounds
The petition sets out the facts briefly, the tribunal's reasoning, and numbered grounds explaining why the order cannot stand. Grounds are kept to points that were raised before the tribunal or that go to its jurisdiction, because new factual pleas are not welcome.
Swear the affidavit
Every writ is supported by an affidavit of the petitioner. In Allahabad High Court practice this is sworn before an Oath Commissioner, and the court's rules on the form of affidavits are strictly applied.
File, and clear the stamp report
The petition is filed at the seat concerned, physically or through e-filing where available. The stamp reporting section checks court fee, limitation and defects, and the defects must be cured before listing.
Fresh listing and admission
The writ comes up as a fresh case before the Division Bench holding the service roster. The court may issue notice, grant time to the Union of India's counsel to take instructions, or decide at once in simple matters.
Counter, rejoinder and final hearing
Once notice issues, the department files a counter affidavit and the petitioner a rejoinder affidavit. The matter then waits for its turn in the final hearing list, which at both seats can take a year or more.
Throughout, keep an eye on the daily cause list. Rosters change periodically at both seats, so the bench hearing your case at admission may not be the one hearing it finally.
Time and cost at a glance
| Stage | Typical time | Costs in general terms |
|---|---|---|
| Certified copy from CAT | A few days to a few weeks | Copying charges at the tribunal registry |
| Drafting and filing the writ | 2 to 4 weeks | Court fee under the state's court fee law, oath and typing charges; professional fee agreed in writing at the first meeting |
| Stamp report and curing defects | A few days to a couple of weeks | Minor |
| First listing and admission | Usually within weeks of filing | Appearance fee, agreed by stage |
| Counter and rejoinder affidavits | 2 to 6 months after notice, often longer | Drafting fee for the rejoinder |
| Final hearing and judgment | Often 1 to 3 years from filing, sometimes more | Appearance fees for hearings; travel if you attend |
| SLP in the Supreme Court if needed | Within 90 days of the High Court judgment | Separate costs, discussed before you decide |
Papers for a UP service writ
From the tribunal case
- Certified copy of the CAT order, and of any review order
- The OA with all annexures
- The department's counter reply and your rejoinder
- Any interim orders and order sheets that matter
About you
- Current posting or retirement details, and address in UP or elsewhere
- Identity proof for the affidavit
- Any orders issued by the department after the tribunal's decision
If you are defending the department's writ
- The copy of the writ petition served on you, or the High Court notice
- Proof of what the department has paid or done in compliance
- Your own copy of the full tribunal record, since the department's annexures may be selective
A made-up example: a Kanpur resident, a Lucknow case
Here's a made-up example. Anil Tripathi is a Senior Technical Officer at a CSIR laboratory in Lucknow. His family home is in Kanpur, where he lives, commuting daily. He was denied assessment promotion after a selection committee marked him below the cut-off, and he filed an OA at the CAT Lucknow Bench, since his office is in Lucknow district. The OA was dismissed. The tribunal held that the committee's assessment could not be examined.
A neighbour in Kanpur told him to file at Prayagraj, since Kanpur is a Prayagraj district. That would have been a mistake. The writ lies at the Lucknow seat of the High Court, because the order came from the Lucknow Bench of the tribunal.
His counsel read the tribunal's order closely. The real problem was not the marks but the fact that the committee had used a revised assessment scheme notified after his eligibility date, and the tribunal had not dealt with that argument at all, though it was pleaded in paragraph 5.12 of the OA. That was a legal point the High Court could examine. The writ was filed five weeks after the certified copy arrived, with the OA, the counter, the rejoinder and the two versions of the assessment scheme annexed.
The Division Bench issued notice to the Union of India and CSIR, and called for the committee's records. The case is the kind that may take a year or two to finish, but it went forward on a clean point instead of an attempt to re-mark his assessment.
Interim orders while the writ is pending
If the department has filed the writ against an order you won, its first request will often be to stay the tribunal's order. The High Court may grant a full stay, a partial stay such as a stay on arrears while current pay is revised, or a stay conditional on the department depositing an amount. It may also refuse a stay. Whatever it does, keep a copy of the order: it decides whether the department must still comply, and whether a contempt petition before the tribunal is possible.
If you are the petitioner, interim relief is harder to get. A writ court is slow to grant you what the tribunal refused. But where the harm is immediate and specific, such as a retiree whose pension has been stopped or an employee being relieved to a far-off station in breach of a policy, an interim order can still be sought. Put the facts showing urgency on the first page.
A caveat, lodged in the High Court soon after you win at the tribunal, protects you against an ex parte stay. Caveats lapse after a period, so if the department has not filed anything for some time, check whether yours needs renewing.
Practical matters at the two seats
The Prayagraj seat is busy, and service writs against tribunal orders compete with a heavy load of state service matters, many of them from UP state employees. Fresh writs usually come up quickly, but the gap between admission and final hearing can be long. Hearings are largely in person, with video conferencing used in some matters; check what the bench hearing your case allows before assuming you can appear remotely.
At the Lucknow seat, writs against tribunal orders are often found under the "Service Bench" category of cases in the cause list, which is how you will spot yours when it is listed. The same logic of rosters and fresh listing applies.
For employees in western UP, the distance to Prayagraj is the hard part. Someone posted in Ghaziabad, Noida or Saharanpur is closer to Delhi than to Prayagraj, but that does not change the forum. The writ papers can be prepared in the National Capital Region, and Advocate B.K. Singh usually goes through them with western UP clients at the Vaishali office in Ghaziabad, but you should expect the case itself to be heard in Prayagraj. Ask at the outset how appearances there will be handled.
Errors that cost UP litigants time
- Filing at the wrong seat. A writ against a Lucknow Bench order filed at Prayagraj, or the reverse, is likely to be returned. Read the heading of the tribunal's order first.
- Going to the Delhi High Court from Ghaziabad or Noida. These districts are with the CAT Allahabad Bench, so the writ goes to Prayagraj. The page for central employees in Noida and Greater Noida sets out the forum for each kind of case.
- Not annexing the tribunal record. A writ with only the final order attached forces the court to ask for the rest, and the case loses months.
- Adding new facts. Material never placed before the tribunal is generally not looked at in the writ.
- Leaving out affected employees. In seniority and promotion cases, people who would lose if you win must be made parties, as they were or should have been at the tribunal.
- Ignoring the stamp report. An uncured defect can keep a petition off the list for weeks.
- Assuming a pending writ stops compliance. It does not, unless the High Court stays the tribunal's order.
Who should not be on this route
This page is about central government employees, pensioners and candidates whose cases went first to the CAT benches in UP. Uttar Pradesh government employees are different. Their service disputes go to the UP Public Services Tribunal at Lucknow, and from there to the High Court. Teachers in state-aided colleges and staff of UP state corporations generally go to the High Court directly.
Members of the CAPF posted in UP, such as CRPF personnel at Rampur or CISF staff at an airport, never had a CAT forum to begin with, so their first stop is the High Court; the page on CAPF, PSU and bank staff going straight to the High Court explains why. Soldiers, sailors and air warriors, serving or retired, belong before the Armed Forces Tribunal instead; its regional bench for this area sits in Lucknow.
Employees of most central PSUs and public sector banks in UP are also outside the tribunal unless their organisation has been notified under Section 14(2). They file writs directly, and the High Court looks at their cases as a first forum, not as a review of a tribunal.
How the stakes differ by employee
A railway employee at Gorakhpur, the headquarters of the North Eastern Railway, or at Prayagraj, the headquarters of the North Central Railway, often finds the Railway Board's circulars at the heart of the dispute. Writs in these cases turn on how a circular is read, which suits the High Court's role. Postal employees in eastern UP, particularly Gramin Dak Sevaks, usually have smaller monetary stakes and should weigh the cost of a writ against what is to be gained.
Defence civilian staff at army depots and workshops around Kanpur, Agra and Meerut, and at the many Military Engineer Services offices across the state, often raise pay fixation and MACP issues that affect a whole cadre. Where a group of employees has the same grievance, a single writ by several petitioners, or a writ supported by an association, can share the cost.
Retirees and family pensioners should think about time. A writ that takes two years to decide can mean two more years without a correct pension. In such cases, ask the court for an early hearing on account of age, and ask whether part of the claim can be settled with the department in the meantime. Candidates in recruitment disputes should ask whether the vacancy will still exist when the writ is decided; if not, interim protection may matter more than the final result.
After the High Court, and what to do now
A Division Bench judgment can be challenged only in the Supreme Court, by a special leave petition under Article 136, ordinarily within 90 days. The page on an SLP against a High Court service judgment covers that stage. A review petition in the High Court is possible for an error on the face of its own judgment, much as at the tribunal.
If you have just received a tribunal order you want to challenge, check its heading for the bench, apply for the certified copy, and gather the full OA record. If you won and are worried the department will go up, consider lodging a caveat at the right seat. For the general approach to these writs in any High Court, see the page on a writ petition against a tribunal order, and for the tribunal benches themselves, the pages on the Allahabad Bench and the Lucknow Bench. Common questions about this stage are gathered on the page about the High Court and Supreme Court route.
To have your tribunal order read for writ grounds, or for updates on how the two seats are listing service writs, contact Advocate B.K. Singh with the order and its certified copy date.
Frequently asked questions
Where do I challenge a CAT Lucknow Bench order?
In the Allahabad High Court's Lucknow Bench, by a writ under Articles 226 and 227 heard by a Division Bench. The seat follows the tribunal bench that passed the order, not where you live.
I live in Noida. Can I file my writ against a CAT order in the Delhi High Court?
Not if the order came from the CAT Allahabad Bench, which covers Gautam Buddh Nagar and Ghaziabad. The writ goes to the Allahabad High Court at Prayagraj. Living near Delhi does not change the forum.
Is there a time limit for filing a writ against a CAT order in Allahabad High Court?
No fixed period applies, but the court refuses relief for unexplained delay and laches. Filing within a month or two of the certified copy avoids most objections. After six months you will need a clear explanation.
Can I go straight to the Supreme Court from the CAT?
No. After L. Chandra Kumar (1997), the writ before the High Court comes first. The Supreme Court is approached by special leave only after the High Court has decided.
Does a single judge or a Division Bench hear these writs?
A Division Bench of two judges. That is the settled practice for writs against tribunal orders in the Allahabad High Court, at both seats.
The department has filed a writ against my CAT win. Do I still get paid?
Yes, unless the High Court stays the tribunal's order. Check the High Court's order sheet. If there is no stay and the compliance period has passed, you can move the tribunal for implementation.
How long does an Allahabad High Court service writ take?
Admission or notice usually comes within weeks. A final decision often takes one to three years, depending on the roster and the department's response. Age and urgency can be grounds for an early hearing request.
Can new documents be filed in the writ that I did not file in CAT?
Generally not, because the High Court reviews the tribunal's decision on the record before it. Exceptions are rare and need a separate application explaining why the document could not be produced earlier.