Tribunals
Tribunal is a quasi-judicial institution that is set up to deal with problems
such as resolving administrative or tax-related disputes. It performs a number
of functions like adjudicating disputes, determining rights between
contesting parties, making an administrative decision, reviewing an
existing administrative decision and so forth.
The term ‘Tribunal’ is derived from the word ‘Tribunes’, which
means ‘Magistrates of the Classical Roman Republic’.
o Tribunal is referred to as the office of the ‘Tribunes’ i.e., a
Roman official under the monarchy and the republic with the
function of protecting the citizen from arbitrary action by the
aristocrat magistrates.
A Tribunal, generally, is any person or institution having an authority
to judge, adjudicate on, or to determine claims or disputes – whether
or not it is called a tribunal in its title.
Need of Tribunal
To overcome the situation that arose due to the pendency of cases
in various Courts, domestic tribunals and other Tribunals have been
established under different Statutes, hereinafter referred to as the
Tribunals.
The Tribunals were set up to reduce the workload of
courts, to expedite decisions and to provide a forum which would
be manned by lawyers and experts in the areas falling under the
jurisdiction of the Tribunal.
The tribunals perform an important and specialised role in justice
mechanism. They take a load off the already overburdened courts.
They hear disputes related to the environment, armed forces, tax
and administrative issues.
Constitutional Provisions
Tribunals were not part of the original constitution, it was
incorporated in the Indian Constitution by 42nd Amendment Act,
1976.
o Article 323-A deals with Administrative Tribunals.
o Article 323-B deals with tribunals for other matters.
Under Article 323 B, the Parliament and the state legislatures are
authorised to provide for the establishment of tribunals for the
adjudication of disputes relating to the following matters:
o Taxation
o Foreign exchange, import and export
o Industrial and labour
o Land reforms
o Ceiling on urban property
o Elections to Parliament and state legislatures
o Food stuff
o Rent and tenancy rights
Articles 323 A and 323 B differ in the following three aspects:
o While Article 323 A contemplates the establishment of tribunals
for public service matters only, Article 323 B contemplates the
establishment of tribunals for certain other matters (mentioned
above).
o While tribunals under Article 323 A can be established only by
Parliament, tribunals under Article 323 B can be established
both by Parliament and state legislatures with respect to matters
falling within their legislative competence.
o Under Article 323 A, only one tribunal for the Centre and one
for each state or two or more states may be established. There
is no question of the hierarchy of tribunals, whereas
under Article 323 B a hierarchy of tribunals may be created.
Article 262: The Indian Constitution provides a role for the Central
government in adjudicating conflicts surrounding inter-state rivers
that arise among the state/regional governments.
Tribunals in India
Administrative Tribunals
Administrative Tribunals was set-up by an act of
Parliament, Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985. It owes its origin
to Article 323 A of the Constitution.
o It adjudicates disputes and complaints with respect to
recruitment and conditions of service of persons appointed to
the public service and posts in connection with the affairs
of the Union and the States.
The Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985 provides for three types of
tribunals:
o The Central Government establishes an administrative tribunal
called the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT).
o The Central Government may, upon receipt of a request in this
behalf from any State Government, establish an administrative
tribunal for such State employees.
o Two or more States might ask for a joint tribunal, which is called
the Joint Administrative Tribunal (JAT), which exercises
powers of the administrative tribunals for such States.
There are tribunals for settling various administrative and tax-related
disputes, including Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), Income
Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), Customs, Excise and Service Tax
Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT), National Green Tribunal (NGT),
Competition Appellate Tribunal (COMPAT) and Securities
Appellate Tribunal (SAT), among others.
Central Administrative Tribunal
It has jurisdiction to deal with service matters pertaining to the
Central Government employees or of any Union Territory, or local or
other government under the control of the Government of India, or of
a corporation owned or controlled by the Central Government.
o The CAT was set-up on 1 November 1985.
o It has 17 regular benches, 15 of which operate at the principal
seats of High Courts and the remaining two at Jaipur and
Lucknow.
o These Benches also hold circuit sittings at other seats of High
Courts. The tribunal consists of a Chairman, Vice-Chairman
and Members.
The Members are drawn, both from judicial as well as
administrative streams so as to give the Tribunal the
benefit of expertise both in legal and administrative spheres.
The appeals against the orders of an Administrative Tribunal shall
lie before the Division Bench of the concerned High Court.
State Administrative Tribunal
Article 323 B empowers the state legislatures to set up tribunals for
various matters like levy, assessment, collection and enforcement of
any of the tax matters connected with land reforms covered by
Article 31A.
Water Disputes Tribunal
The Parliament has enacted Inter-State River Water Disputes
(ISRWD) Act, 1956 have formed various Water Disputes
Tribunal for adjudication of disputes relating to waters of inter-State
rivers and river valleys thereof.
o Standalone Tribunal: The Inter-State River Water Disputes
(Amendment) Bill, 2019 is passed by Parliament for amending
the existing ISRWD Act, 1956 to constitute a standalone
Tribunal to remove with the need to set up a separate Tribunal
for each water dispute which is invariably a time-consuming
process.
Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT)
It is a military tribunal in India. It was established under the Armed
Forces Tribunal Act, 2007.
It has provided the power for the adjudication or trial by AFT of
disputes and complaints with respect to commission, appointments,
enrolments and conditions of service in respect of persons subject to
the Army Act, 1950, The Navy Act, 1957 and the Air Force Act,
1950.
Besides the Principal Bench in New Delhi, AFT has Regional
Benches at Chandigarh, Lucknow, Kolkata, Guwahati, Chennai,
Kochi, Mumbai and Jaipur.
o Each Bench comprises of a Judicial Member and an
Administrative Member.
The Judicial Members are retired High Court
Judges and Administrative Members are retired Members of
the Armed Forces who have held the rank of Major General/
equivalent or above for a period of three years or more, Judge
Advocate General (JAG), who have held the appointment for at
least one year are also entitled to be appointed as the Administrative
Member.
National Green Tribunal (NGT)
The National Environment Tribunal Act, 1995 and National
Environment Appellate Authority Act, 1997 were found to be
inadequate giving rise to demand for an institution to deal with
environmental cases more efficiently and effectively.
The Law Commission in its 186th Report suggested multi-faceted
Courts with judicial and technical inputs referring to the practice of
environmental Courts in Australia and New Zealand.
o As a result NGT was formed as a special fast-track, quasi-
judicial body comprising of judges and environment experts to
ensure expeditious disposal of cases.
The National Green Tribunal was established in 2010 under
the National Green Tribunal Act 2010 as a statutory body.
o It was setup for effective and expeditious disposal of cases
relating to environmental protection and conservation of
forests and other natural resources.
o It also ensures enforcement of any legal right relating to
environment and giving relief and compensation for damages to
persons and property.
The Tribunal is mandated to make and endeavour for disposal of
applications or appeals finally within 6 months of filing of the same.
Initially, the NGT is proposed to be set up at five places of sittings
and will follow circuit procedure for making itself more accessible.
o New Delhi is the Principal Place of Sitting of the Tribunal
and Bhopal, Pune, Kolkata and Chennai shall be the other
four place of sitting of the Tribunal.
Income Tax Appellate Tribunal
Section 252 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 provides that the Central
Government shall constitute an Appellate Tribunal consisting of
many Judicial Members and Accountant members as it thinks fit to
exercise the powers and functions conferred on the Tribunal by the
Act.
Characteristics of Administrative Tribunals
Administrative Tribunal is a creation of a statute.
An Administrative Tribunal is vested in the judicial power of the State
and thereby performs quasi-judicial functions as distinguished
from pure administrative functions.
Administrative Tribunal is bound to act judicially and follow the
principles of natural justice.
It is required to act openly, fairly and impartially.
An Administrative Tribunal is not bound by the strict rules
of procedure and evidence prescribed by the civil procedure
court.
Merging of Tribunals
The Finance Act of 2017 merged eight tribunals according to
functional similarity. The list of the tribunals that have been merged
are given below:
o The Employees Provident Fund Appellate Tribunal with The
Industrial Tribunal.
o The Copyright Board with The Intellectual Property
Appellate Board .
o The Railways Rates Tribunal with The Railways Claims
Tribunal.
o The Appellate Tribunal for Foreign Exchange with The
Appellate Tribunal (Smugglers and Foreign Exchange
Manipulators (Forfeiture of Property) Act, 1976.
o The National Highways Tribunal with The Airport Appellate
Tribunal.
o The Cyber Appellate Tribunal and The Airports Economic
Regulatory Authority Appellate Tribunal with The Settlement
and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) .
o The Competition Appellate Tribunal with the National
Company Law Appellate Tribunal.
Difference Between Tribunal and Court
Administrative Tribunals and Ordinary Courts both deal with the
disputes between the parties which affects the rights of the subjects.
Administrative Tribunal is not a court. Some notable differences
between a court and Administrative Tribunal are as follows -
No. Court of Law Tribunal
A court of law is a part of
the traditional judicial An Administrative Tribunal is
1. an agency created by the
system whereby judicial powers
are derived from the state. statute and invested with
judicial power.
The Civil Courts have judicial Tribunal is also known as the
Quasi-judicial body. Tribunals have
power to try all suits of a civil
2. the power to try cases of special
nature unless the cognizance matter which are conferred on
is expressly or impliedly barred. them by statutes
Judges of the ordinary courts of law Tenure, terms and conditions of
are independent of the executive in the services of the members
3. respect of their tenure, terms and of Administrative Tribunal are
conditions of service etc. Judiciary entirely in the hands of
is independent of Executive Executive (government).
The president or a member of
The presiding officer of the Tribunal may not be trained
4. the court of law is trained in as well in law. He may be
law. an expert in the field of
Administrative matters.
A judge of a court of law must
An Administrative Tribunal may be
be impartial who is not
5. a party to the dispute to be
interested in the matter directly decided by it.
or indirectly.
A court of law is bound by all An Administrative Tribunal is
6. the rules of evidence and not bound by rules but bound
procedure. by the principles of nature of
Justice.
Administrative Tribunal may
Court must decide all decide questions by taking into
questions objectively on the account departmental policy,
7.
basis of evidence and materials the decision of Administrative
on record. Tribunal may be subjective
rather than objective.
A court of law can decide vires of a Administrative Tribunal cannot
8. legislation do so
