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Supreme Court allows the government to constitute National Tribunals Commission
Supreme Court allowed the constitution of an Independent National Tribunals Commission to look into the matters of appointment and functionaries of tribunals after upholding the constitutional validity of the powers given to the legislature under the impugned Tribunal, Appellate Tribunal and other Authorities [Qualification, Experience and Other Conditions of Service of Members] Rules, 2020.
The 2020 rules were published following the powers conferred upon them under section 184 of the Finance Act, 2017 and the constitutional validity given by the Article 323A of the Constitution of India. Following the approval of the rules, numerous petitions were filed in the various High Courts to get a declaration of the violation of Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India against the 2020 rules and sought the illegality of the committee formed and the mode and tenure of appointment etc, thereafter all the petitions were transferred to the Supreme Court before a 3 judge bench comprising of Justice L. Nageswara Rao, Justice Hemant Gupta and Justice S. Ravindra Bhat.
Following the various contentions against the impugned rules, the supreme court upheld the constitutionality of the said rules but made several changes to the composition and working of the same which includes allowing the members of Indian Legal Service and lawyers with a minimum experience of 10 years to be eligible for the appointment as a judicial member of Tribunal, their one-time reappointment, change of housing and rent allowances, prospective application of rules from date 12 February 2020 and the validation of appointments that were made before 2020 but in conformation with the selection committee. It also made huge changes to the Search-cum-Selection Committee by making it a five-member definite committee rather than the 4-member committee. Further directions were also given to the government to strictly adhere to the directions.
Following this, the petition filed by the Madras Bar Association was accordingly disposed of.
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