Legislating Tribunal Reforms

Transcript:

Did you know that India’s Parliament has been trying to legislate its Tribunal system for the last four decades—and the Supreme Court keeps sending the legislation back to the drawing board? The Tribunal Reforms Act 2026 might be the newest addition to the four-decade long turf war. 

The story starts in 1986 in S.P. Sampath Kumar v Union of India where the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985 was challenged for excluding judicial review by the Supreme Court and the High Courts. While the five-judge Bench upheld the 1985 Act, it firmly held that judicial review is a part of the Constitution’s Basic Structure and the Parliament cannot legislate to take it away. 

In 1986, the question returned in L. Chandra Kumar v Union of India. This time, the five-judge Bench went further, striking down the provisions of the Constitution introduced by Parliament through constitutional amendment, which excluded the jurisdiction of the High Courts and the Supreme Court over tribunals. 

A string of judgements followed; each shaping the contours of Tribunal Legislation. In Union of India v R. Gandhi—or better known as the first Madras Bar Association case in 2010—the Court upheld Parliament’s power to create NCLT and NCLAT, but struck down provisions enabling excessive executive interference in functions of the tribunals. 

Two more Madras Bar Association rulings followed in 2014 and 2015, striking down similar executive-heavy provisions in the National Tax Tribunals Act, 2005 and the Companies Act, 2013. 

Parliament did not put Tribunal Legislation to halt. The Central Government notified The Tribunal Reforms Rules 2017, which empowered the Central Government to frame rules prescribing qualifications, recruitment procedures, tenures, salaries, allowances, and removal processes for presiding officers and members. In 2019, a five-judge Bench in Roger Mathew v South Indian Bank Limited struck down the 2017 Rules. 

In April 2021, Tribunals Reforms (Rationalisation and Conditions of Service) Ordinance re-enacted several provisions of the Finance Act, 2017 regarding service conditions for tribunal members. This Ordinance, too, was struck down by a Bench of three-judges in the fourth Madras Bar Association v Union of India.  Finally, in November 2025, a two-judge Bench struck down the Tribunal Reform Act 2021 in a strongly worded judgement, stating that when Parliament enacts previously struck down provisions, the legislation remains vulnerable to invalidation. 

Now that the Tribunal Reforms Act 2026 is in the picture, the question of whether this will lead to a fresh round of litigation still looms. 

Want to know more? Visit scobserver.in to read an analysis by Prashant Reddy T. on the Tribunal Reforms Act, 2026.