Parl passes Bill to abolish 9 appellate tribunals

Tribune News Service

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New Delhi, August 9

A Bill seeking to abolish as many as nine appellate tribunals, including the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT), was approved by Parliament with the Rajya Sabha passing the proposed legislation Monday.

The House rejected Opposition members’ demand to send the legislation to a select committee. The Tribunals Reforms Bill, 2021, was approved by Lok Sabha on August 3.

Soon after the passage of the Bill, Opposition members trooped into the Well of the House in protest against Pegasus and three farm laws leading to a brief adjournment of the House.

Replying to a discussion on the Bill in the Upper House, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman rejected the Opposition’s charge that the legislation undermines the judicial system, and asserted the government “fully respects” the independence of judiciary.

The Bill seeks to amend the Cinematograph Act, 1952, the Customs Act, 1962, the Airports Authority of India Act, 1994, the Trade Marks Act, 1999, and the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Act, 2001, and certain other legislations.

On Congress MPs raising the issue of judicial independence, the Finance Minister hit back, saying, “Who is speaking? Members from the Congress party, which during the Emergency completely curtailed the judiciary and today such a party asks us of judicial independence.”

Sitharaman also dismissed the contention that the Bill was in violation of Supreme Court rulings. “Judiciary has not struck it down on constitutionality. It has only raised certain questions on some points,” she said, adding that the primacy of the legislature to make laws “is as important as the independence of judiciary”.

The House also negated by a division vote an Opposition statutory motion to send the bill to a select committee for scrutiny. Only 44 MPs voted in favour of sending the Bill to the select committee, while 79 voted against it.