The court also highlighted key issues of Tribunals like appointment of staff and service conditions while hearing a petition challenging constitutional validity of the Tribunal Reforms Act, 2021.
What are Tribunals?
- Tribunals are quasi-judicial bodies established to adjudicate disputes related to specified matters.
- Constitutional Recognition: 42nd Amendment Act of 1976 added a new Part XIV-A to the Constitution, which inserted Articles 323-A and 323-B.
- Article 323A empowers Parliament to constitute administrative Tribunals (both at the central and state levels) for adjudication of matters related to the recruitment and conditions of service of public servants.
- Article 323B specifies certain subjects (such as taxation and land reforms) for which Parliament or state legislatures may constitute tribunals by enacting a law.
Key issues in working of Tribunals
- Independence of tribunals: SC has time and again emphasized that the issues like executive overpower over selection process, presence of technical members dilutes judicial independence.
- Pendency of cases: For eg. Till 2021 central government industrial tribunal cum-labour courts had 7,312 pending cases, and Armed Forces Tribunal had 18,829 pending cases.
- Infrastructural Issues: e.g. Lack of human resources, pending vacancies and poor service conditions.
- Overlapping Jurisdiction: Issue of overlapping cases between regular courts and tribunals creates confusion.
Way Forward
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