Tribunal reforms bill gets nod, paves way for national body
The Union Cabinet approved the Tribunals Reforms Bill, which provides for setting up a National Tribunal Commission (NTC) as an independent body to oversee appointments, service conditions, and the functioning of tribunals across the country.
The Commission is expected to cover roughly sixteen tribunals functioning at the central level, replacing the current system where individual ministries administer the tribunals falling under their domain.
The move follows directions from the Supreme Court, which had earlier flagged that ministry-controlled appointments and administration compromise the independence of tribunals and had directed the government to constitute such a commission.
Concerns had been raised in judicial proceedings that tribunals, meant to reduce the burden on courts, had instead become a source of litigation and delay, effectively becoming a "liability" for the judiciary due to vacancies and executive control.
The bill is set to be introduced in the Lok Sabha in the upcoming session.
Tribunals under the Indian Constitution
Tribunals are quasi-judicial bodies created by statute to adjudicate disputes in specialised areas (tax, administrative service matters, environment, company law, etc.), reducing the caseload of regular courts. They were given constitutional recognition through the 42nd Amendment Act, 1976, which inserted Article 323A (Administrative Tribunals) and Article 323B (Tribunals for other matters) into Part XIV-A of the Constitution. Article 323A empowers Parliament to set up administrative tribunals (e.g., Central Administrative Tribunal) for service matters; Article 323B empowers Parliament/state legislatures to create tribunals for matters like taxation, land reforms, elections, and industrial disputes.
Key Details
- Inserted by the 42nd Constitutional Amendment, 1976, following the recommendations of the Swaran Singh Committee.
- In L. Chandra Kumar v. Union of India (1997), a seven-judge Constitution Bench held that tribunal decisions are subject to judicial review by High Courts under Articles 226/227, and that tribunals cannot be the sole judicial forum for constitutional questions — restoring the supervisory role of High Courts over tribunals.
- The idea of a National Tribunals Commission was first mooted in the same L. Chandra Kumar judgment (1997) as a body to supervise tribunal appointments and administration independently of the executive, but it has never been formally constituted despite repeated judicial prodding.
- The Tribunals Reforms Act, 2021 (which fixed tenure and search-cum-selection procedures for tribunal members) had several provisions on tenure and removal struck down by the Supreme Court for giving the executive excessive control, undermining separation of powers.
The Cabinet-approved bill operationalises the nearly three-decade-old idea from L. Chandra Kumar by finally proposing a standing NTC, directly responding to the Supreme Court's repeated directions on tribunal independence.
Doctrine of Separation of Powers and Judicial Independence
Tribunals occupy a unique constitutional space — they perform judicial functions but are typically staffed and administered by the executive (the sponsoring ministry), creating a tension with the doctrine of separation of powers, which is part of the Basic Structure of the Constitution (as affirmed in Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala, 1973, and applied to tribunals in Union of India v. R. Gandhi (Madras Bar Association case), 2010, and Madras Bar Association v. Union of India, 2014 and 2021).
Key Details
- Courts have repeatedly held that tribunal members must have security of tenure, independent appointment processes, and adequate infrastructure to function as effective substitutes for courts.
- The Supreme Court has struck down government attempts (via the Finance Act, 2017 rules and later the Tribunals Reforms Act, 2021) to shorten tribunal member tenures and give ministries control over appointments, on separation-of-powers grounds.
- An independent NTC, on the model of judicial appointment bodies, is proposed as the structural fix to this recurring conflict.
The new bill attempts to structurally separate tribunal administration from the sponsoring ministries by centralising it under one independent commission, addressing the core objection courts have raised in successive tribunal-related judgments.
- The National Tribunal Commission is proposed to oversee approximately 16 central tribunals.
- Article 323A and Article 323B were inserted by the 42nd Constitutional Amendment, 1976.
- L. Chandra Kumar v. Union of India (1997) was decided by a seven-judge Constitution Bench and first proposed the NTC concept.
- The bill is slated for introduction in the Lok Sabha in the upcoming session.