Background:
Earlier, the Government vide Gazette CG-DL-E-04042021-226364 dated April 04, 2021 has passed ‘the Tribunals Reforms (Rationalisation and Conditions of Service) Ordinance, 2021 (No. 2 of 2021)’ (“the Ordinance”) to further amend the Cinematograph Act, 1952; the Customs Act, 1962; the Airports Authority of India Act, 1994; the Trade Marks Act, 1999; the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Act, 2001, the Finance Act, 2017 and certain other Acts in order to abolish some tribunals and authorities, to provide a mechanism for filing appeal directly to the Commercial Court or the High Court, instead of the tribunals and to the transfer the cases pending before such tribunals or authorities and the jurisdiction exercised by them to the Commercial Court or the High Court.
The Hon’ble Supreme Court in Madras Bar Association v. Union of India & Anr. [Writ Petition (Civil) No.502 of 2021, dated July 14, 2021] had upheld the Ordinance, but struck down certain provisions related to terms of services of chairperson, vice-chairperson and other members of tribunals as void and unconstitutional, which required minimum age of 50 years for appointment as chairperson or members and prescribed tenure of 4 years. Further held that, such conditions are contrary to the principles of separation of powers, independence of judiciary, rule of law and Article 14 of the Constitution.
Bill:
The Government vide Bill No. 116 of 2021, has passed ‘the Tribunals Reforms Bill, 2021’ (“the Bill”) on August 3, 2021 that was introduced in Lok Sabha on August 2, 2021, replacing the Ordinance, and seeks to dissolve certain existing appellate bodies and transfer their functions to other existing judicial bodies, with retrospective effect from April 4, 2021, in a following manner:
- Amended the provisions of the Income Tax Act, 1961, Customs Act, 1962 and the Finance Act, 2017 and certain other Acts in order to bring uniformity in the terms and conditions of service of chairperson and members of such Tribunals and to abolish certain Appellate Tribunals.
- Age of retirement to be 70 years for chairperson and 67 years for a member of the Tribunal respectively.
- Search-cum-Selection Committee for tribunals other than State Administrative Tribunals to be headed by the Chief Justice of India or a Judge nominated by him.
- Search-cum-Selection Committee for the State Administrative Tribunal to be headed by the Chief Justice of the High Court of the concerned State.
- Recommendation of a panel of 2 names by the Search-cum-Selection Committee and such recommendation to be considered by the Government preferably within 3 months.
- Removal of Chairperson and Members on the recommendation of Search-cum-Selection Committee.
- The Chairperson and Member of a Tribunal to hold office for a term of 4 years.
- The Chairperson and Member of a Tribunal shall be eligible for reappointment.
The Bill can be accessed at: http://164.100.47.4/BillsTexts/LSBillTexts/Asintroduced/116_2021_LS_E.pdf