Tribunals with high pendency abolished | Economic Times

One of the bills passed amid the din in Parliament this monsoon session led to gradual reduction in the total number of tribunals from 36 to 15. The Tribunals Reforms (Rationalisation and Conditions of Service) Bill, 2021, passed earlier this month, abolished eight appellate tribunals which, as government officials put it, were acting as an “unwanted additional layer of judicial intervention”.Sample this: The Airports Appellate Tribunal commenced in 2018-19 with 12 cases. It could not decide even a single case and ended up with a pendency of 31 cases this year. The Intellectual Property Appellate Board which began with 2,991 cases in 2018-19 had a closing balance of 4,433 cases.Some of the tribunals abolished include those under Cinematograph Act, 1952, the Trade Marks Act, 1999, Copyright Act, 1957, Customs Act, 1962, Patents Act, 1970 and Airports Authority of India Act, 1994. Pending cases from them will be transferred to commercial or civil courts or high courts. Tribunals which remain include the Industrial Tribunal, Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, Railway Claims Tribunal, Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal, National Company Law Appellate Tribunal and the Armed Forces Tribunal.A law ministry study had recommended an initial reduction of tribunals from 36 to 17. By the Finance Act, 2017, seven tribunals were abolished/merged based on functional similarity and the total number was reduced to 19. Earlier, five tribunals were merged into existing tribunals and with respect to five tribunals related to water disputes, the Ministry of Jal Shakti had introduced a bill for their merger. The rationale followed in Phase I was to close down tribunals which were not necessary and merge tribunals with similar functions, said an official.“Tribunals abolished in this phase handle cases where public at large is not a litigant and they do neither take away any significant workload from high courts, which would have otherwise adjudicated these cases nor provide speedy disposal. Many cases do not achieve finality at the level of tribunals and are litigated till high court or Supreme Court, especially those with significant implications. Therefore, these tribunals add only as an additional layer of litigation,” said the officialAnother official said “reducing the number of tribunals will be beneficial for the public at large. The issue of shortage of supporting staff of the tribunals and infrastructure will also be suitably addressed... will also reduce the burden on public exchequer”.