Free judiciary can be sustained via fair service conditions: SC

The Supreme Court on Wednesday said the independence of the judiciary can be sustained when incumbents are assured a fair and reasonable conditions of service as it declared provisions in the Tribunals Reforms Ordinance 2021 fixing a minimum age of 50 years and fouryear tenure of Chairmen and members of various tribunals as unconstitutional It held that these provisions were contrary to the principles of separation of powers independence of judiciary and rule of lawThree separate judgements were delivered by a bench of Justices L Nageswarao Rao Hemant Gupta and Ravindra Bhat on a plea by the Madras Bar Association challenging the Sections 12 and 13 of the ordinance by which Sections 184 and 1862 of the Finance Act 2017 was amended In a majority judgment Justices Rao and Bhat held that fouryear tenure violated the express direction given in an earlier judgment that term of tribunal members should be five years This bench set aside those provisions However Justice Gupta delivered a dissenting judgment and dismissed the petitionJustice Rao said Independence of the judiciary can be sustained only when the incumbents are assured of fair and reasonable conditions of service which include adequate remuneration and security of tenure He emphasised that tribunals constituted as an alternative mechanism for speedy resolution of disputes have become nonfunctional due to the large number of posts which are kept unfilled for a long period of time Tribunals have become ineffective vehicles of administration of justice resulting in complete denial of access to justice to the litigant public he addedJustice Rao noted The main reason for tribunalisation which is to provide speedy justice is not achieved as tribunals are wilting under the unbearable weight of the exploding docket He added the conditions of service for appointment to the posts of Chairpersons and members have been mired in controversy for the past several years thereby adversely affecting the basic functioning of tribunals This Court is aghast to note that some tribunals are on the verge of closure due to the absence of members he addedAlso read Supreme Court seeks Centre Attorney Generals response on plea challenging sedition lawJustice Bhat said the sheer volume of pendency is an indicator of the substantial judicial functions carried out by tribunals necessitating that they be manned by efficient wellqualified judicial and technical members It is necessary that the Union expedite the process of appointments to tribunals towards ensuring swifter and efficacious justice delivery he addedHe rejected the Centres argument that 50 years is necessary as it brings about parity between the members of the civil services who are eligible to be considered in their stream for tribunals or that there is an overall uniformity He added that prescribing 50 years as a minimum age limit for consideration of advocates has the devastating effect of entirely excluding successful young advocates especially those who might be trained and competent in the particular subjectSection 184 empowered the Centre to make rules to provide for qualifications appointment term of office salaries and allowances resignation removal and other terms and conditions of service of the Chairperson the Vice Chairperson and other members of various tribunals In the majority judgment the court said it had already declared that the Chairperson Vice Chairperson and the members of the tribunals shall hold office for a term of five years and shall be eligible for reappointmentJustice Rao said The insertion of Section 18411 prescribing a term of four years for the Chairpersons and members of tribunals by giving retrospective effect to the provision from May 26 2017 is clearly an attempt to override the declaration of law by this court under Article 141 in earlier judgement The Tribunals Reforms Rationalisation and Conditions of Service Ordinance 2021 issued by the Ministry of Law and Justice was notified on April 4 The top court clarified that the ordinances provisions will not apply to appointments made prior to its notificationThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever