TAKING STRONG EXCEPTION to the Union government for reenacting tribunal law with only marginal alterations of the provisions earlier invalidated by it, the Supreme Court on Wednesday struck down key provisions of the Tribunals Reforms Act, 2021 concerning the appointment and tenure of tribunal members, observing that the Centre had effectively brought back what had already been quashed in previous rulings.
Striking down the provisions relating to the appointment of the tribunal members and their tenure, Chief Justice B.R. Gavai, heading the bench also comprising Justice K. Vinod Chandran, pronouncing the judgment, said, “Therefore, the provisions of the Impugned Act cannot be sustained. They violate the constitutional principles of separation of powers and judicial independence, which are firmly embedded in the text, structure, and spirit of the Constitution.”
The judgment said that the “principles of separation of powers and judicial independence are not vague, free-floating ideals. They are structural pillars of our constitutional order and integral components of constitutionalism worldwide.”
Justice Vinod Chandran, in a separate observation, noted, “I respectfully concur with the reasoning and directions. The Tribunal Reforms Act, 2021 is a replica of the struck down Ordinance; old wine in a new bottle, the wine whets not the judicial palette, but the bottle merely dazzles.”
Stating that the doctrine of separation of powers is not merely philosophical, the judgment reads, “It underwrites the very distribution of authority among the three branches of government. It is reflected in Articles 32, 136, 141, 226, and 227 of the Constitution, which vest the judiciary with the power to interpret the law, enforce fundamental rights, and supervise subordinate courts and tribunals.”
