Tribunals- Characteristics, Merge and Difference | Famous Books for UPSC Exam (Summary & Tests) PDF Download

Characteristics of Administrative Tribunals

• Administrative Tribunal is a creation of a statute.
• An Administrative Tribunal is vested in the judicial power of the State and thereby performs quasi-judicial functions as distinguished from pure administrative functions.
• Administrative Tribunal is bound to act judicially and follow the principles of natural justice.
• It is required to act openly, fairly and impartially.
• An Administrative Tribunal is not bound by the strict rules of procedure and evidence prescribed by the civil procedure court.

Merging of Tribunals
The Finance Act of 2017 merged eight tribunals according to functional similarity. The list of the tribunals that have been merged are given below:

• The Employees Provident Fund Appellate Tribunal with The Industrial Tribunal.
• The Copyright Board with The Intellectual Property Appellate Board .
• The Railways Rates Tribunal with The Railways Claims Tribunal.
• The Appellate Tribunal for Foreign Exchange with The Appellate Tribunal (Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators (Forfeiture of Property) Act, 1976.
• The National Highways Tribunal with The Airport Appellate Tribunal.
• The Cyber Appellate Tribunal and The Airports Economic Regulatory Authority Appellate Tribunal with The Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) .
• The Competition Appellate Tribunal with the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal.

Difference Between Tribunal and Court

• Administrative Tribunals and Ordinary Courts both deal with the disputes between the parties which affects the rights of the subjects.
• Administrative Tribunal is not a court. Some notable differences between a court and Administrative Tribunal are as follows -