Appellate tribunals on mission makeover

Belief that they've multiplied, with overlapping functions; some will be merged for sectoral synergy

The government has a plan to merge appellate regulators, instead of doing away with them. The broad categories under which non-financial appellate regulators will be clubbed include sectors like infrastructure and company-related matters.

A senior official said there were issues like non-functional appellate tribunals, less work for some and high numbers of regulatory levels. "This is particularly problematic on the tax side, where there are hosts of tribunals. We do not plan to touch the financial sector regulators but sectoral regulators need some restructuring and clubbed wherever there is synergy," said the official.

Options being considered include a sectoral appellate regulator for