Five central tribunals have a backlog of 3.5 lakh cases, finds Law Commission
However, these tribunals dispose of as many as 94% of the cases they receive each year, a report said.
Five central tribunals in India alone account for a backlog of over 3.5 lakh cases, though such tribunals dispose of 94% of the cases that are filed each year, the Law Commission said in a report on Friday.
The concept of tribunals was developed to overcome the crisis of delay and backlogs in the administration of justice in regular courts, the report observed. However, the data on pending cases showed that some of the tribunals “do not depict a satisfactory picture”.
The report, titled “Assessment of Statutory Frameworks of Tribunals in India” was submitted to the law ministry on Friday. The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal has the highest number of pending cases, at over 91,000, followed by the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appeal Tribunal, with 90,592 cases – both as at the end of last year.
As in July 2017, the Central Administrative Tribunal had 44,333 pending cases, and the Railway Claims Tribunal had 45,604 pending cases as on September 30, 2016. The Debt Recovery Tribunal had a backlog of 78,118 cases as on July 3, 2016.
The commission recommended that orders of the central tribunals should not be contested in the Supreme Court directly, to reduce the burden on it. They should be challenged before the division bench of high courts.
