Appellate tribunal
Also called: Appellate Tribunals · Topic: Justice Delivery: Subordinate Courts, Tribunals, Legal Aid and Judicial Reforms · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
An appellate tribunal is a body that hears appeals, which are requests to review and change a decision already made by a lower tribunal or a government regulator. It is quasi-judicial: it works like a court and must follow natural justice (a fair hearing and no bias), but it is not bound by the strict rules of a regular court. Most appellate tribunals are set up by an Act of Parliament. Some have been set up on the Supreme Court's directions. They matter because they give expert, quicker review in technical fields and reduce the load on High Courts. Their orders can still be reviewed by the courts, because judicial review is part of the basic structure (the core of the Constitution that cannot be removed), as held in L. Chandra Kumar (1997).
Example
The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) hears appeals from the NCLT, the IBBI, the CCI and the NFRA. The Securities Appellate Tribunal hears appeals against SEBI, IRDAI and PFRDA. In West Bengal, 19 Appellate Tribunals were set up on the Supreme Court's directions to hear voter-roll appeals. Their members are judicial officers chosen from a list sent by the Calcutta High Court.
Don't confuse with
- Original (first-level) tribunal: it hears a dispute for the first time, as the NCLT or the Debt Recovery Tribunal does. An appellate tribunal, such as the NCLAT or the DRAT, only reviews what such a body has already decided.
- Appellate court: it is a regular court, such as a High Court, under the Constitution's court system. An appellate tribunal is a specialised body outside that system.