2020 Tribunals Rules And AG

WHAT'S THE NEWS?

• The news concerns itself with the reply of Advocate General K.K. Venugopal to the Honourable Supreme Court regarding the conformity of Government of India to the judgement of the SC on 27th November 2020 regarding the Tribunal, Appellate Tribunal and other Authorities [Qualification, Experience and Other Conditions of Service of Members] Rules, 2020.

• The hearing was part of the writ petition by NCLT and Appellate Tribunal Bar Association seeking directions from the court.

• A bench headed by Justices L Nageswara Rao, Hemant Gupta and Ravindra Bhat gave directions to the government regarding this matter.

• Initially, the petition was filed by Madras Bar Association challenging the Tribunal Rules of 2020 informing the court that it violates the principles of Separation of Power and independence of the judiciary.

WHAT ARE THE TRIBUNAL RULES 2020?

• The Union Ministry of Finance framed a new set of rules called the Tribunal, Appellate Tribunal, and other Authorities Rules, 2020 that prescribe uniform norms for the appointment and service conditions of members to various tribunals.

• The new rules have been framed by the government as the previous Rules of 2017 were struck down by the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court in November 2019 in the case Rojer Mathew vs South Indian Bank.

• The rules were framed by the government in exercise of powers under Section 184 of the Finance Act 2017.

• It applies to various tribunals such as Industrial Tribunal, Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, Central Administrative Tribunal, Railway Claims Tribunal, Security Appellate Tribunal, etc. Appointments to the above tribunals will be made by Central Government on the recommendations by the search cum selection committee constituted for each tribunal. The composition of the search cum selection committee of each tribunal is specified in Schedule of the Rules.

ISSUES WITH THE RULES

• Conflict of Interest: The new rules do not remove the control of parent administrative ministries (ministries against which the tribunals have to pass orders) over tribunals.

• Inconsistent with SC rulings: The new rules contain ambiguous clauses stating that any person with experience in economics, commerce, management, industry and administration can be appointed as a member of certain tribunals. This may allow even members with non-judicial/legal background to become chairpersons of tribunals, contrary to SC ruling in the R Gandhi case.

AG'S ARGUMENTS AND SUBMISSIONS

• AG defended the exclusion of Advocates from appointment to Single-Member Tribunals, along with this other submissions and arguments were made leading to the court upholding the amendment of rules and agreeing to the concerns of vacancies in the tribunals.

• AG agreed to the court's order and informed that the government will be amending the 2020 Tribunals Rules.