Rajasthan High Court Orders Inquiry Into Tribunal After Stay Order Goes Missing From Record

Jaipur: The Rajasthan High Court tribunal probe has raised serious questions about how the Rajasthan Civil Services Appellate Tribunal (RCSAT) handled a teacher’s case. The High Court has ordered an inquiry after a stay order that was allegedly granted in open court was later missing from the tribunal’s official file, while a different order appeared on record instead.

The case is important because it is not only about one teacher’s promotion dispute. It is also about whether a tribunal’s records were changed, wrongly maintained, or explained in a misleading way before the High Court.

Details of Rajasthan HC Tribunal Probe

The matter began with Sharvan Lal Khorwal, a government school teacher in Rajasthan. He was promoted from Senior Teacher to Lecturer in 2016 after a Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) exercise. Years later, in June 2025, the government cancelled that promotion and reverted him back to his earlier post.

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Khorwal challenged this reversion before the Rajasthan Civil Services Appellate Tribunal (RCSAT). His argument was simple: the seniority issue used against him arose because the department itself had transferred him earlier for administrative reasons, not because he had asked for it.

Rajasthan HC Tribunal Probe: Why Did the Dispute Become Serious

The case took a bigger turn because of what allegedly happened inside the tribunal. According to the petitioner, the appeal came up before the tribunal on 15 July 2025. He claimed that after hearing both sides, the tribunal orally granted a stay on the government’s reversion order. He also said the tribunal’s website showed that a stay had been granted on that date.

But later, when he checked the official case file, he allegedly found no stay order dated 15 July 2025. Instead, the record contained a different order dated 8 August 2025, which only issued notices and did not grant any stay. The petitioner also said that the matter was not even listed before the tribunal on 8 August 2025.

What did the Rajasthan High Court say

The Rajasthan High Court first looked at the teacher’s service dispute and granted him interim relief. On 9 April 2026, Justice Ravi Chirania stayed the operation of the June 2025 reversion order. The Court said, at least at the first stage, the government’s action appeared questionable because the change in region was not the teacher’s own choice.

But the High Court also examined the more serious allegation about the tribunal’s records. Earlier, on 6 March 2026, another bench had already asked the RCSAT Registrar to explain the alleged mismatch between what was said to have happened in court and what was shown in the file.

Rajasthan HC Tribunal Probe: Why did the Court Order an Inquiry

The RCSAT Registrar later filed an affidavit before the High Court. In that affidavit, the explanation reportedly tried to put the blame on an unnamed clerk, saying the clerk had wrongly recorded the grant of stay in the cause list.

The High Court was not satisfied. Justice Ravi Chirania said the explanation was not satisfactory and described the affidavit as “highly unreasonable and false on the face of the record.” The Court then directed the Secretary, Department of Personnel, Government of Rajasthan to hold an inquiry into the matter.

What Exactly will the Inquiry Examine

The inquiry has been asked to look into several key questions:

• Whether the RCSAT Registrar’s explanation to the High Court was true.
• Whether the unnamed clerk was actually involved.
• Whether the clerk was being used as a scapegoat.
• Whether disciplinary action should be taken against the Registrar and any concerned official if wrongdoing is found.

The High Court also asked the State to file its reply and place the inquiry report before the Court on the next date of hearing.

Case timeline at a glance

What is the Importance of Rajasthan HC Tribunal Probe

This case goes beyond one promotion dispute. If a court or tribunal order shown on a website is different from the order available in the official file, it raises major concerns about:

• Judicial record-keeping
• Transparency in tribunal functioning
• Trust in quasi-judicial institutions
• Fair treatment of government employees fighting service disputes

Courts depend heavily on clean and accurate records. If records are changed, delayed, wrongly uploaded, or poorly explained, it can directly affect a person’s career, salary, and legal rights.

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