Apex Court Restores Higher Tenure Age for Tribunal Members, Slams Re-enactment of Quashed Clauses
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court today delivered a significant verdict, striking down several core provisions of the Tribunals Reforms Act, 2021, which governed the appointment, tenure, and service conditions of members of various specialised tribunals across the country.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice B.R. Gavai and Justice K. Vinod Chandran held that the impugned provisions were unconstitutional, primarily because they were a re-enactment, with minor tweaks, of clauses previously struck down by the Apex Court. The bench ruled that this action violated the fundamental constitutional principles of separation of powers and judicial independence.
“The impugned provisions violated the principles of separation of powers and judicial independence, and they should not have been brought back,” the bench observed.
The court found that the central government had effectively sought to “legislatively override” binding judicial precedents without curing the constitutional defects identified in earlier judgments. The 2021 Act was challenged on the grounds that it re-introduced provisions like a short tenure and age requirements that had repeatedly been held to be detrimental to the functional independence of the quasi-judicial bodies.