constituted by the legislatures and are invested with specific
judicial powers. They have a permanent existence and are adjudicating
bodies. They deal with and finally decide disputes between parties
which are entrusted to them subject to them subject to appeals as
provided. As observed by the Supreme Court (in Associated Cement
Companies Ltd vs P N Sharma and Anr. Case – AIR 1965 S.C. 1595) the
basic and fundamental feature which is common to both the courts and
the tribunals is that they discharge judicial functions and exercise
judicial powers which inherently vest in a sovereign state.
But at the same time, tribunals are not, strictly speaking,
courts. They possess some, though not all, of the trappings of a
court. The distinctions can be summarised as follows:
(i) A court of law is a part of the traditional judicial system. While
judicial powers are derived from the state and the body deals with
justice, it is called a court. On the other hand, a tribunal is an
agency created by a statute and invested with judicial powers in
specific matters.
(ii) Judges of ordinary courts of law are independent of the executive
in respect of their tenure, terms and conditions of service, etc. On
the hand, tribunals are, to a great extent, in the hands of the
Government.
(iii) A court of law is generally presided by over by the officer
trained in law, but the President or a member of a tribunal may not
necessarily be trained in law.
(iv) In a court of law, a Judge must be an impartial arbiter and he
cannot decide a matter in which he is interested. On the other hand, a
tribunal may be a party to the dispute to be decided by it, such as
the Railway Rates Tribunal, the Monopolies Commission, etc.
(v) A court of law is bound by all the rules of evidence and procedure
but a tribunal is not strictly bound by those rules unless the
relevant statute imposes such an obligation.
(vi) A court must decide all questions objectively on the basis of the
evidence and materials produced before it, but a tribunal may also
take into account departmental policy or expediency, etc.
(vii) A court of law can decide the 'vires ' of a legislation while a
tribunal cannot do so.
0 comments: