Published on: August 02,2021 12:30 IST
By Khushi Agarwal
Introduction
India is a big country with large number of citizens living in it. For delivering justice to such a large population, there is a requirement of establishing multiple courts. However, despite having Supreme Court, 25 High Courts and multiple District courts, there are crores of cases pending in the country.
It is widely said that Justice delayed is Justice denied. Justice should be delivered on time otherwise it is of no use. That is one of the reason, we need Tribunals in the country. They help in reducing the burden of cases on the courts and thus help in delivering justice speedily.
They take up certain specific matters and thus relives the Courts of those matters. To defeat the circumstance that emerged because of the pendency of cases in different Courts, domestic Tribunals and different Tribunals have been set up under various Statutes, hereinafter alluded to as the Tribunals.
The Tribunals were set up to lessen the responsibility of courts, to assist choices and to give a gathering which would be monitored by legal advisors and specialists in the spaces falling under the jurisdiction of the Tribunal.
The courts play out a significant and specific job in providing justice. They relax the generally overburdened courts. They hear debates identified with the climate, military, charge and regulatory issues.
What are Courts?
Courts come under the third branch of Government, that is, Judiciary. The judicial system of India is divided into three tiers. The Supreme court or the Apex court is at the top of the hierarchy and is at the central level.
After Supreme Court comes High Courts which are at the state level. Most of the states have their own High courts. There are 25 High Courts in India currently. At last of the hierarchy are the district Courts or the lower courts.
All the courts are vested with different jurisdictions such as Supreme courts have original jurisdiction under Article 131 of the Constitution, it can also entertain writs under Article 32, etc. High courts have appellate jurisdiction and also can take writs under Article 226 of the Constitution.
District Courts are divided into different categories based on their jurisdiction such as for criminal matters, we have sessions court.
The court can be depicted as the legal body set up by the public authority to mediate debates between the contending parties through a formal lawful cycle. It targets giving equity in common, criminal and regulatory issue, according to law and order.
To put it plainly, a court is an administration establishment where the choice on legitimate issue is taken by the adjudicator or board of judges or justice.
What are Tribunals?
Tribunals are a quasi-judicial body also known as administrative body. It is neither completely a court nor completely an executive body. It stands somewhere between and discharges its quasi-judicial duties.
The word Tribunal was derived from the word ‘Tribunes’ which means Magistrates of the Classical Roman Republic.
As discussed above, Tribunals were established to lower the burden of cases on the courts and to fasten the delivery of justice. They are set up to perform a number of functions such as solving disputes, determining rights between contesting parties, making an administrative decision, reviewing an existing decision and so on.
Tribunals first came into being due to the 42nd Amendment of the Constitution in 1976. The word Tribunal was incorporated in the Constitution under Article 323A and 323B by this Amendment. However, the first Tribunal set up in India was Income tax Appellate Tribunal in the year 1941.
Article 323A gives the power to the Parliament to set up Tribunals for solving any dispute with respect to areas under Public Services. It states,
“Parliament may, by law, provide for the adjudication or trial by administrative tribunals of disputes and complaints with respect to recruitment and conditions of service of persons appointed to public services and posts in connection with the affairs of the Union or of any State or of any local or other authority within the territory of India or under the control of the Government of India or of any corporation owned or controlled by the Government”.
Article 323B gives the Parliament and the State Legislature complete authority to establish Tribunals under Clause (1) of the Article 323B for adjudication of any dispute, complaint or offence for the matters specified in Clause (2) of the same Article. The Clause states,
“The appropriate Legislature may, by law, provide for the adjudication or trial by tribunals of any disputes, complaints, or offences with respect to all or any of the matters specified in clause (2) with respect to which such Legislature has power to make laws”.
The matters talked of in Clause (1) of the Article are very clearly stated in Clause of the Article with respect to which the Legislature has the power to set up Tribunals. The Clause states,
“The matters referred to in clause (1) are the following, namely:-
(a) levy, assessment, collection and enforcement of any tax;
(b) foreign exchange, import and export across customs frontiers;
(c) industrial and labour disputes;
(d) land reforms by way of acquisition by the State of any estate as defined in article 31A or of any rights therein or the extinguishment or modification of any such rights or by way of ceiling on agricultural land or in any other way;
(e) ceiling on urban property;
(f) elections to either House of Parliament or the House or either House of the Legislature of a State, but excluding the matters referred to in article 329 and article 329A;
(g) production, procurement, supply and distribution of food-stuffs (including edible oilseeds and oils) and such other goods as the President may, by public notification, declare to be essential goods for the purpose of this article and control of prices of such goods;
(h) rent, its regulation and control and tenancy issues including the right, title and interest of landlords and tenants;
(i) offences against laws with respect to any of the matters specified in sub-clauses (a) to (h) and fees in respect of any of those matters;
(j) any matter incidental to any of the matters specified in sub-clauses (a) to (i).”
The matters stated under these ten sub-heads are the matters provided in the Clause (2) with respect to which the Legislature can establish Tribunals under the Article.
Difference between both the Articles is that while Article 323A gives power to the Parliament only to establish Tribunals, Article 323B gives the power to the State Legislature also.
The former deals with the matter of public services only while the latter provides for many matters under its Clause (2).
Therefore, since then many Tribunals have been set up which deals only with specific matters provided under the Legislature under which the tribunal have been established.
The benefits of establishing Tribunals are that they make the justice delivery system efficient and are much cheaper than the courts.
Certain advantages of establishing Tribunals were identified by the Franks Report of 1957. Those advantages were its cheapness (cost effectiveness), accessibility, freedom from technicality, expedition and expert knowledge of their particular subject.
Currently there are various Tribunals set up in India. Some of the Tribunals are as under:
- National Green Tribunal set up under National Green Tribunal Act, 2010 dealing specifically with matters related to environment protection.
- Water Disputes Tribunal set up under Inter-State River Water Dispute Act, 1956 for matters of dispute in inter-state river water.
- Administrative Tribunals established under Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985 for matters relating to public services as mentioned under Article 323A of the Constitution.
- Armed Force Tribunal established under Armed Forces Tribunal Act, 2007.
Difference between Courts and Tribunals
Tribunals are relatively new as compared to courts. Courts take all kinds of matter except those which are expressly excluded and are independent of any statues whereas Tribunals take only specific matters mentioned under the statues under which they have been made and thus are dependent on the statues.
Therefore, Courts deals with variety of cases whereas Tribunals deals with specific cases.
While both are manned with experts from law field, the members of the Tribunals may not be trained in law and can be experts in the Administrative matters. Thus, the Tribunals can have both judicial as well as executive members.
Tribunals work on a narrow area of work as compared to Courts which works on a bigger area. Courts are required to follow all the rules and procedures mentioned under CRPC. However, the Tribunals are not obliged to do so.
Tribunals have just to keep in mind the Principle of Justice and decide the matter while the Court are required to decide on the basis of each and every evidence presented in the Court.
Tribunals can be described as minor Courts that deals with special cases and come into existence due to any special statue.
Conclusion
To deliver justice in such a big country like India, there is a need of both Tribunals and Courts. Although Tribunals deals only with specific types of cases, they reduce the burden of the Courts by taking up those cases and thus help in fastening the justice delivery process.
There are many differences between both Tribunals and Courts. However, both are independent of each other and have separate duties to perform.
They both assist each other and are equally important for the process of delivering justice to the citizens of the country.
References