Published: 6th Jun, 2022
Context
In a recent development, the Supreme Court set aside a National Green Tribunal order prohibiting construction work at Rushikonda hills in Visakhapatnam, saying orders of ‘constitutional courts would prevail over statutory tribunals’.
About
Key-points made by the court
- The National Green Tribunal or NGT is subordinate to the high court in so far as territorial jurisdiction is concerned.
- The conflicting orders passed by the NGT and the high court would lead to an anomalous situation.
- The authorities would be faced with difficulty which orders to follow. In such a case orders from the Constitutional court would prevail over statutory tribunals.
- Thus the continuation of proceedings before the NGT for the same which is also seized with the high court cause of action cannot proceed in interest of justice.
- We, therefore, quash and set aside the proceedings before the NGT.
- The top court, however, said though development is necessary for economic development of a nation, it’s equally necessary to safeguard the environment to preserve pollution free environment for future generations.
What are Tribunals?
- Tribunals are judicial or quasi-judicial institutions established by law.
- They intend to provide a platform for faster adjudication as compared to traditional courts, as well as expertise on certain subject matters.
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Constitutional Backing
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What are the reasons behind constitution of Tribunals?
- Pendency of cases in courts is one of the key challenges faced by the judicial system.
- In certain technical cases, the traditional courts need expert knowledge for adjudication.
Why tribunal cannot be considered as court?
- This term ‘court’ has not been defined in any of the statutes.
- However, on the basis of judicial ruling in case of S D Ghatage v. State of Maharashtra, these are the basic characteristics of a Court:
- It is an adjudicating body.
- It performs a judicial function of rendering definite judgments having finality.
- The judgment binds the parties litigating before it.
- They derive their power from the state.
On the basis of these characteristics the tribunal is a court.
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Court |
Tribunal |
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Courts take all kinds of matter except those which are expressly excluded and are independent of any statues |
Tribunals take only specific matters mentioned under the statues under which they have been made and thus are dependent on the statues. |
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Courts work on a bigger area. |
Tribunals work on a narrow area of work as compared to Courts |
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Courts are required to follow all the rules and procedures mentioned under CRPC. |
Tribunals are not obliged to do so. |
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The Court are required to decide on the basis of each and every evidence presented in the Court. |
Tribunals have just to keep in mind the Principle of Justice and decide the matter. |
Debate around the structure of tribunal
- These debates basically revolve around few basis presumptions. The fundamental presumption is that the Tribunal is not a Court. Hence the powers of the Courts are not available to the Tribunal.
- Since it is not a Court, it has no inherent powers.
- The Tribunal is a mere fact finding body, it cannot order anything apart from what has been stated in the statute.
- It cannot order anything in the name of doing complete justice.
- The Tribunal cannot enforce its orders like a Court, which can enforce its decrees.
- Tribunal is a creature of a statute and hence it cannot go beyond the words of the statute.
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