Toying with tribunals

The Supreme Court’s outburst over inordinate delay in filling up around 250 vacancies in various tribunals has given rise to apprehensions about a face-off between the government and the judiciary. Even though the SC maintained that it didn’t want a confrontation, its observation that the government was attempting to emasculate tribunals by not making the appointments reflects its frustration. ‘There is no respect for the judgments of this court,’ it said, warning the Centre of contempt action.

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Dispute resolution is one of the core functions of the State, discharged mainly through a three-tier court system. Tribunals — which are quasi-judicial bodies — were not envisaged under the Constitution. They came into existence via the 42nd Amendment to the Constitution which added Article 323-A for the establishment of administrative tribunals and Article 323-B for other tribunals. Unlike courts, tribunals have both judicial and expert members as they deal with specialised areas. Some of the tribunals, such as Central Administrative Tribunal, National Green Tribunal, Armed Forces Tribunal, National Company Law Appellate Tribunal and GST Appellate Tribunal, perform a vital role in justice dispensation. By the Finance Act, 2017, seven tribunals were abolished or merged based on functional similarity and their total number was reduced from 26 to 19. The idea was to close down tribunals which were not necessary and merge tribunals with similar functions. An analysis of data of the last three years has shown that tribunals in several sectors have not necessarily led to faster justice delivery and they are at a considerable expense to the exchequer.

It was for this purpose that the government promulgated the Tribunal Reforms (Rationalisation and Conditions of Service) Ordinance, 2021, modifying some of the provisions of the 2017 Finance Act. In July, the SC reversed many of the changes, saying that security of tenure, remuneration and conditions of service were necessary to ensure independent functioning of tribunals. Now, the top court is furious about the same provisions being reintroduced in the Tribunals Reforms Act, 2021. The court has already issued notice to the Centre on petitions challenging the Act. The petitions would be decided in due course. But in the meantime, the government must expedite the process to fill vacancies in tribunals.