New Delhi [India], May 25 (ANI): Establishing a centralised oversight institution for tribunals would be a transformational step towards making India’s justice delivery system more responsive, efficient, and future-ready, directly contributing to boosting regulatory credibility, improving ease of doing business and enhancing investors’ confidence, said industry body Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
Even though tribunals have traditionally been playing a pivotal role in adjudicating a significantly large volume of cases in certain critical areas such as labour, environment, and taxes, they are yet to have a centralised oversight mechanism that will ensure uniformity, policy coherence, and improvement in their overall performance, said the industry body.
In a research note CII has made a strong case for establishing such an oversight mechanism on a priority basis.
CII added that to provide legislative backing to this exercise, suitable amendments may be introduced in the Tribunals Reforms Act, 2021, defining the mandate, structure, scope, and responsibilities.
Such a central body could undertake functions like performance monitoring, data tracking, coordination with the Search-Cum-Selection Committees, capacity building, and independent grievance redressal.
CII said that the administrative control of tribunals is currently fragmented across various ministries and departments, leading to a lack of standardisation and functional inconsistencies. A key concern for tribunals is the absence of real-time performance statistics, which limits the scope for undertaking evidence-based reforms.
In contrast, such statistics are readily available for the entire court system of the country on the ‘National Judicial Data Grid’, maintained by the e-committee of the Supreme Court.
Tribunals are quasi-judicial bodies designed to adjudicate domain-specific disputes in areas like taxation, company law, environmental regulation and public service matters, among others.
Originally envisioned as a complement to the conventional court system, tribunals aim to ease the burden on the judiciary while enabling faster, expert-led adjudication in technically complex matters.
Today, over 16 central tribunals operate under different ministries across key sectors of the economy. These bodies directly impact the rule of law, economic governance, and ease of doing business.
For example, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) plays a pivotal role in the implementation of the Companies Act, 2013 and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, which are central to corporate debt resolution, investor confidence, and financial stability, the CII added.
According to the industry body, enhancing the efficiency of tribunals is critical for unlocking substantial fiscal resources tied up in disputes and improving the overall ease of doing business.
For instance, as of 31st December 2024, Rs 6.7 trillion was pending resolution at the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) alone, which constituted nearly 57 per cent of all litigated direct tax amounts in the country.
Such a high figure highlights the magnitude of matters being adjudicated by tribunals and the far-reaching implications on investment climate and economic growth, stressed CII.
The industry body said that while the government has sought to address challenges through the Tribunal Reforms Act, 2021, constraints such as persistent vacancies, delayed appointments, inadequate infrastructure, lack of performance monitoring, and ineffective grievance redressal mechanisms continue to undermine tribunals’ effectiveness and efficiency.
Reinforcing its point, CII has quoted several Supreme Court judgements and expert recommendations, including the 272nd Report of the Law Commission of India (2017), all of which advocate for the creation of a centralised oversight mechanism for tribunals.
This idea was first mooted by the Supreme Court, as early as 1997, in the matter of L. Chandra Kumar v. Union of India, wherein it was stated that one of the primary reasons for the inefficiency of tribunals was the absence of a dedicated supervisory authority.
Accordingly, the court observed that such a body could be set up under the aegis of the Ministry of Law and Justice until a wholly independent agency was established.
In subsequent judgements, the Supreme Court again stressed the need for establishing a centralised mechanism, even directing the Union of India to set up a National Tribunals Commission at the earliest in Madras Bar Association v. Union of India (2020). (ANI)
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