Plea before SC challenges newly enacted Tribunal Reforms Act, 2021

A petition has been filed before the apex court, questioning the constitutional validity of Tribunal Reforms Act, 2021. The former Union Minister and Member of Parliament, Jairam Ramesh, has moved the apex court and stated that the instant enactment bears the provisions which had been struck down in the case of Madras Bar Association.

Earlier, even the Supreme Court inquired the Centre regarding introducing a legislation which consists of already struck down provisions.

The petitioner submitted that the impugned legislation takes away the judicial independence and amounts to “unconstitutional legislative overriding” of the verdict passed by the apex court.

It has been further submitted by the counsel on behalf of petitioner that the Sections 3(1), 3(7), 5, and 7(1) of the novel enactments stand ultra-vires to Articles 14, 21 and 50 of the Constitution of India.

It had been highlighted in the plea that Section 3(1) of the Act bars the appointments to tribunals of persons below 50 years of age and subsequently undermines the security of tenure which ultimately violates the principles of judicial independence as well as separation of powers.

Apart from this, Section 3(7) of the Act provided for recommendation of a panel of two names by the search-cum-selection committee, to the Central Government, which again stands in contravention to the above-stated principles as grants discretion to the Central Government.

Section 5 of the Act had been challenged to the extent that it fixed the tenure of Chairperson and Member to four years, which is very low. This provisions also stands against the directions of the apex court which directed the authorities to the tenure of appointees for at least five years.

Lastly, Section 7(1) of the Act extended discretionary power to Central Government to fix House Rent Allowance (HRA), other than the parameters fixed by the Supreme Court in Madras Bar Association case.

The Supreme Court also made critical remarks w.r.t. the Act and stated that Centre does not seem to be keen about repeated directions issued by Court to ensure proper functioning of Tribunals.