Mumbai Bench: Maharashtra, Goa and Circuit Sittings at Nagpur and Aurangabad

Who this bench serves, region by region

Three areas belong here: Maharashtra, Goa, and the merged territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. DoPT fixed this when it replaced the table of benches by G.S.R. 267(E), dated 29 April 2020. So a customs inspector at Nhava Sheva, a postman in Mapusa and a teacher in a Silvassa central school all start from the same registry, provided the grievance arose here or they are posted here.

The bench itself sits in south Mumbai. The tribunal's published address list places it at Gulestan Building, Prescot Road, Fort, close to the CSMT and Churchgate offices of the two railway zones that send it so many cases. Addresses of tribunal benches do change, so check the CAT website before you travel.

Maharashtra is a big state and the bench knows it. Mumbai, Thane, Raigad, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Pune, Satara, Sangli, Kolhapur, Solapur and Nashik matters are mostly heard in Mumbai. Vidarbha cases from Nagpur, Wardha, Chandrapur, Amravati, Akola, Yavatmal and the other eastern districts can be listed at the Nagpur circuit sitting. Marathwada cases, and some from the Khandesh and Ahilyanagar side, can be listed when the bench sits at Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.

Goa has had circuit sittings since July 2023, held in the premises of the High Court of Bombay at Goa in Porvorim. The Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, formed by merging the two old territories in January 2020, sits geographically next to Gujarat. Its central staff still file at Mumbai, not Ahmedabad, because the jurisdiction table puts the territory under the Mumbai Bench.

First, a plain word: this is a law firm's page

You are reading the site of B.K. Singh & Associates, advocates, whose offices are in Dwarka (New Delhi) and Vaishali (Ghaziabad). The tribunal did not write this page and has nothing to do with it. Nothing you read here replaces a notice from the Mumbai registry. Cause lists, sitting calendars and filing counter timings are on the tribunal's own portal, and the registry staff will confirm them.

Our aim is narrower: to help you understand how this bench handles cases so you can make sensible choices about your file. When a case is listed in Mumbai, Nagpur, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar or Goa, local associate counsel attend the hearing alongside our team, and client meetings happen by video. Advocate B.K. Singh still goes through every document and settles the strategy himself.

The rules that decide whether Mumbai is your bench

Circuit sittings at Nagpur, Aurangabad and Goa: how they really work

A circuit sitting is the Mumbai Bench travelling, not a separate bench. Its Members sit for a fixed set of days at another city and hear cases already filed with the Mumbai registry that come from that region. PSU Connect reported, for example, a Nagpur circuit sitting from 7 to 11 September 2026, with staff deputed from other benches to support it. Earlier, in July 2022, the bench sat for two days in the district court building at Aurangabad to hear cases from the Marathwada districts and the neighbouring Khandesh and Ahmednagar belt.

These sittings are notified, not permanent. The dates come out as a notice, sometimes only a few weeks in advance, and the cases listed are those the registry has marked for that place. If you want your Vidarbha or Marathwada case heard at the circuit, say so when filing and ask your counsel to request listing there. Otherwise it will be listed in Mumbai, and you or your lawyer will have to appear there or by video.

Goa is a little different. When the circuit bench was inaugurated at the High Court premises in Porvorim on 3 July 2023, the Goa CAT Bar was told the tribunal had agreed to a permanent circuit arrangement, and sittings have followed from time to time. The frequency still depends on the bench, so a Goa client should not assume the case will never travel to Mumbai.

Two practical points follow. First, filing and most paperwork still go to the Mumbai registry, now largely through e-filing. Second, an urgent stay cannot wait for the next circuit date. If a transfer order is about to be carried out, the application is mentioned before the bench in Mumbai, in person or by video, whatever district you live in.

Where the cases come from: offices with large central staff

• Railways. Central Railway (headquarters at CSMT) and Western Railway (Churchgate) run the Mumbai suburban system and the divisions at Pune, Solapur, Bhusawal and Nagpur. The Nagpur division of South East Central Railway and the Nanded division of South Central Railway also fall in Maharashtra. Running staff, trackmaintainers, ticket checkers and workshop artisans make up a large part of the bench's list. See our page on railway employee service cases.
• Atomic energy. The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre at Trombay and other units of the Department of Atomic Energy employ scientists, technicians and administrative staff whose promotion and pay disputes come here. Staff of NPCIL, which runs the Tarapur plant, are in a government company and generally go to the High Court instead.
• Defence civilians. The Naval Dockyard in Mumbai, Military Engineer Services across the state, Southern Command establishments in Pune, DRDO laboratories in Pune and Ahilyanagar, Air Force units at Nagpur and naval stations in Goa all employ civilians who are under this tribunal.
• Revenue departments. Income Tax, CGST and Customs have very large establishments in Mumbai, including the custom house at Nhava Sheva. Transfer, promotion and disciplinary cases of inspectors and officers are common.
• Posts and audit. The Maharashtra and Goa postal circle, including Gramin Dak Sevaks in remote talukas, and the Accountant General offices at Mumbai and Nagpur.
• Scientific and teaching bodies. CSIR laboratories such as NEERI at Nagpur, NCL at Pune and NIO in Goa, the India Meteorological Department in Pune, and Kendriya Vidyalayas across the region, all of which come under the tribunal by Section 14(2) notification or as central departments.

People in this region who should not file here

• Sailors, soldiers and airmen in uniform. A naval rating at INS Angre or an Air Force corporal at Pune takes a service grievance to the Armed Forces Tribunal, whose Mumbai regional bench is a different body altogether. The storekeeper or draughtsman working in the same naval yard comes to the CAT. Our page on the right forum for CAPF and armed forces personnel explains the split.
• CISF, CRPF and other CAPF personnel. CISF men and women guard Mumbai airport, JNPA and many plants in the state. When they are aggrieved, the usual route is a writ in the Bombay High Court.
• Employees of central PSUs and companies. Mazagon Dock, Goa Shipyard, HAL at Nashik, Western Coalfields at Nagpur, Konkan Railway Corporation, and the Nashik presses and Mumbai mint run by the Security Printing and Minting Corporation, are all companies, so their staff usually approach the High Court.
• Ordnance factory staff. The factories at Ambernath, Bhandara, Chandrapur, Ambajhari and Pune were moved into defence PSUs in October 2021, which has created real forum questions. Read our page on ordnance and defence production employees before filing.
• State government employees. A Maharashtra government clerk goes to the Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal, which sits in Mumbai with benches at Nagpur and Aurangabad. The names sound alike and people do turn up at the wrong counter. A Goa government employee's service dispute usually goes to the High Court at Porvorim.

Mumbai, Nagpur, Aurangabad, Goa or Kolhapur: where the writ goes

Whoever loses before the Mumbai Bench, employee or department, goes next to the Bombay High Court. Since L. Chandra Kumar (1997) the challenge is a writ petition heard by two judges, and Bombay is the High Court over this bench. Conveniently, Bombay's jurisdiction also stretches to Goa, Silvassa, Daman and Diu, so the High Court is never in doubt here. What needs thought is the seat.

The Bombay High Court sits at Mumbai, at Nagpur, at Aurangabad and at Goa, and since 18 August 2025 also at a circuit bench in Kolhapur. Which seat takes a writ against a tribunal order depends on the High Court's own rules about the districts each seat serves and on where the case arose. A writ against an order passed at the Nagpur circuit about a Chandrapur employee is a different question from one about a Mumbai customs officer. Get this checked before the petition is drafted.

Lose in Bombay and the road continues to Delhi, by special leave under Article 136; the usual period is 90 days from the High Court's judgment. A few people leap over Bombay and file directly in the Supreme Court against the tribunal's order. They are told to go to the High Court first, having lost weeks. Our page on writ petitions against tribunal orders sets out the grounds that usually work.

From order to hearing: the route for a Mumbai Bench case

The order of steps is the same at every bench. What changes here is the travel, the circuit listing and the language of your papers.

1. Fix the date and the remedy

   Write down when the order actually reached your hands; the typed date on top can be weeks earlier. Then see what your rules offer. A penalty under the CCS (CCA) Rules carries an appeal, with 45 days to file it, while a pay or seniority grievance usually needs a representation. Send either one through your controlling officer.

2. Wait, but not forever

   The department gets up to six months. A rejection inside that period starts your tribunal year at once. Silence for six full months also lets you file, and the year then runs from the day the six months expire.

3. Decide the bench and the sitting

   Apply Rule 6: your place of posting, where the cause arose, or, for retirees, where you live now. If you are in Vidarbha, Marathwada or Goa, decide whether you will ask for listing at the circuit sitting.

4. Prepare the Original Application

   The application sets out facts, a list of dates, grounds, and the exact relief, with true copies of every order relied on. Papers in Marathi, Konkani or Gujarati need English translations. Our page on drafting and filing an Original Application lists the parts.

5. File and cure defects

   File through the CAT e-filing portal or at the Mumbai registry with the fee and vakalatnama. The registry often returns papers for small defects, such as unmarked annexures or a missing index. Cure them quickly, because the case is not listed until they are cleared.

6. Admission and notice

   On day one the Members look at whether there is a case worth answering. If so, notice goes to the ministry and its local office, and any urgent prayer is heard. The Union's panel counsel in Mumbai usually accept notice for central departments.

7. Pleadings, then the long wait

   Counter affidavit from the department, your rejoinder, then a place in the final hearing queue. That queue is where most of the time goes in Mumbai. Check every listing, because a missed date can mean dismissal for default.

If the department loses and does not comply within the time the order allows, the remedy is a contempt petition or an execution application before the same bench, not a fresh Original Application.

How long each stage tends to take, and what it costs

What to bring, sorted by who you are

Marathi, Konkani and Gujarati papers

The tribunal works in English. A great many documents in this region are not in English: a gram panchayat residence certificate in Marathi, a land record attached to a caste certificate, a Konkani affidavit from Goa, a Gujarati notice from the Daman administration. Each needs an English translation, typed and signed as true by the translator or by counsel, placed next to the original.

People often attach a phone photograph of a Marathi document and assume the bench will read it. The registry may let it through, but at the hearing a Member cannot rely on what is not translated. Get the translation done when the application is drafted, not the night before final hearing.

Interim relief and the size of the Mumbai list

Mumbai has one of the heavier lists among CAT benches, partly because of the two railway zones and the revenue departments. In practice this means a final hearing may take a while, so the interim stage matters more than people expect. If you need a transfer kept in abeyance, a recovery stopped or a vacancy kept open, ask for it in the first application and show why waiting would cause harm that money cannot repair later.

Section 24 of the Act controls interim orders. The bench can give a short protective order without hearing the department, but it is ordinarily limited in time unless continued after the department is heard. Read our page on interim stay orders in CAT to see what the three usual tests are and how a stay prayer is framed.

Video hearing helps clients in Nagpur, Goa or Kolhapur appear without travelling. Ask your counsel whether a particular date is physical or hybrid; benches announce this through the cause list and notices, and the practice changes.

Mistakes we see from Maharashtra and Goa clients

• Filing at the Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal. A central employee who files at MAT loses months before being told he is at the wrong forum. Check the employer first.
• Waiting for the circuit sitting to file. The sitting is for hearing, not a deadline extender. Limitation keeps running while you wait for a Nagpur date.
• Writing to the department again and again. A fourth reminder to the DRM does not buy a fresh year; S.S. Rathore (1989) settled that. Once the appeal is turned down, start preparing the application.
• Assuming Daman goes to Ahmedabad. It looks closer on the map, but the table sends Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu to Mumbai.
• Late applications without an explanation. If you are past the year, the delay application must explain each period of delay with documents. Our page on condonation of delay under Section 21 shows what tends to be accepted.
• Ignoring junior colleagues who will be affected. In seniority and promotion cases, the people who would lose must be made parties, or the order may not hold.

Officers, Group C staff, pensioners and candidates: how it differs here

Group A officers in Mumbai's revenue and audit offices tend to bring promotion, sealed cover and APAR cases, and their files are document-heavy. The tribunal looks closely at DPC minutes and benchmarks, so an RTI for the minutes, filed early, often decides the shape of the case. Advocate B.K. Singh usually asks such officers first for the DPC year and the vacancy year, because many of these disputes turn on that gap.

Group C staff, especially in the railways and posts, bring transfer, recovery, MACP and minor penalty cases. Their cases are smaller in paper but the stakes for the family are high. A trackmaintainer in Bhusawal division or a GDS in Sindhudurg may need the interim order more than the final one.

Pensioners are the group most helped by Rule 6(2), since they can file where they live. They also need to watch the arrears question. The three-year limit on arrears from Union of India v. Tarsem Singh (2008) is no longer applied uniformly to pension claims after the Supreme Court's 2026 decisions on family and disability pension, so check the current position before you assume part of your claim is lost.

Candidates should note that not every central recruitment is before this tribunal. Disputes about posts that would be civil posts under the Union generally are. Disputes about CAPF constables and sub-inspectors, recruited through the SSC, usually go to the High Court.

Working with our firm on a Mumbai Bench matter

We sit in Delhi NCR, so a Mumbai Bench file usually starts with a video call and a scanned bundle on WhatsApp. The drafting is done by our team. When the case is called in Fort, Nagpur, Sambhajinagar or Porvorim, a local associate counsel stands up in court with our brief, and the file never leaves our hands. We settle our charges with you at the opening meeting, put them on paper, and take them one stage at a time; see how we work and charge.

If your case has a link to Delhi, for instance an order passed by a ministry in Delhi on a file from Pune, there may be a choice of bench. We will tell you which one makes practical sense rather than defaulting to the one nearest to us. Our main page on Central Administrative Tribunal cases explains the general process.

This week, if your order came from an office in this region

Mark the date of receipt on the order. Count 45 days if an appeal lies, and one year for the tribunal. Make a copy of every page and keep the original safe. If you are posted in Vidarbha, Marathwada or Goa, note it, because it bears on where your case is listed.

Then put your papers in date order and send them for a reading before you write anything more to the department. One careless sentence in a representation can concede the very point you will need to fight at the tribunal. To have your file looked at, or to hear when the rules on your issue change, get in touch with Advocate B.K. Singh.