Fresh move to decrease number of tribunals

With many tribunals in the country performing "identical functions", government has given a fresh push to its pans to cut down their number from the present over 35 to 15 amid opposition by some ministries.
The Law Ministry has issued a fresh reminder to all central ministries and departments to give details of the number of tribunals working under them. It has also sought a response on how many of them can be merged to bring down their number.
Responding to the Law Ministry move, the Department of Revenue in the Finance Ministry has expressed its inability to merge tribunals under it.

Appellate Tribunal for Forfeited Property, Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal, Authority for Advance Rulings for Income Tax and Authority for Advance Rulings for Customs and Central Excise are some of the bodies under the Department of Revenue.
"The move has the support of the Prime Minister. In the coming days ministries and departments will reach a consensus as the decision will a 'top down' affair," a senior Law Ministry functionary said expressing hope the the pruning will take place despite resistance.
From nearly 37 tribunals, Law Ministry plans to bring down the number to 15 as several are performing "identical functions".

On November 19, Law Minister D V Sadananda Gowda held a meeting with top officials of his ministry to discus the progress in bringing down the number of tribunals. The move is in tune with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's policy of doing away with laws and procedures which create confusion and obstruct smooth governance.

The Department of Legal Affairs in the Law Ministry has written to all Union ministries and departments to furnish details of tribunals functioning under their administrative control and explain the "possibility of merging the functions of tribunals with some other tribunals".
There are nearly 37 tribunals functioning in the country

dealing with subjects such as income tax, electricity, consumer protection, company laws and railway accidents.
Questioning the efficacy of tribunals, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had recently voiced concern over the low rate of disposal of cases by them and said there was a need to ascertain whether these institutions were delivering justice or were acting as a "barrier" in it.
He said senior judges of the Supreme Court can brainstorm to find out whether the tribunals are actually fast tracking justice delivery or are slowing it down. He made these remarks as most tribunals are headed by retired judges.
Addressing a joint conference of Chief Justices of High Court and Chief Ministers here in April, Modi had said the budget allocated to run the tribunals can be diverted to courts to strengthen them if it is found that they are not delivering results.

He said it is necessary to find out whether tribunals are delivering justice or have become a "barrier" in the process of justice delivery.
Modi pointed out that there are some ministries which have four tribunals under their administrative control.
A few years ago, the Water Resources Ministry had floated a proposal to amend the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956, to scrap the five inter-state water dispute resolution tribunals and replace them with a single permanent tribunal.
During UPA II rule, the Law Ministry had sought administrative control over all tribunals functioning in the country citing a 1997 Supreme Court order in the L Chandra Kumar Vs Union of India case, which had said, "We are of the view that, until a wholly independent agency for the administration of all such tribunals can be set-up, it is desirable that all such tribunals should be, as far as possible, under a single nodal ministry which will be in a position to oversee the working of these tribunals.

In its last days in office, the UPA-II government had introduced a Bill to bring uniformity in the tenure, allowances and retirement age of chairpersons and members of the various tribunals.
The Bill provides for a uniform tenure of a maximum of five years for chairpersons and members of tribunals. But they will have varied retirement ages of 70 years for a Supreme Court judge and 67 years for a High Court judge. The retirement age of 65 has been proposed for those who join tribunals from the administrative side.
As of now, some tribunals have a three-year tenure for retired judges while others provide for five years. According to a Law Commission report, over 20 Acts administered by various Union ministries govern the functioning of tribunals in the country.

A parliamentary committee which examined the Bill had termed it a "half-baked" effort. The NDA government is likely to take a call on amending the Bill as per the recent recommendations of the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law and Personnel.