Tribunal and Court Distinguished
Chapter Twenty-Six
Syllabus topic 3.1, "Administrative Tribunal and Court- Distinction"
Pages 151 to 155 of 396
In one line
A court is part of the ordinary judicial system and can try any dispute of its kind; a tribunal is a statutory body created for one class of dispute and can do only what its Act allows.
In the words a student can write in an exam: a court is a permanent organ of the State forming part of the ordinary judicial hierarchy, presided over by a judicially trained person, possessing inherent jurisdiction to try all disputes of a civil nature unless barred, bound by the rules of procedure and evidence, and deciding solely according to law. A tribunal is a body created by statute for the adjudication of a specified class of dispute, whose jurisdiction is confined to what the statute confers, which may include technical or administrative members, which is not bound by the Code of Civil Procedure or the Indian Evidence Act, which may take policy into account, and which is subject to the supervisory jurisdiction of the High Court under Articles 226 and 227.
Why the distinction is asked
Three practical consequences turn on it, and an answer that gives the table without the consequences is thin.
- Which writ or remedy is available, and whether Article 227 superintendence applies.
- Whether the body has contempt power, since a court has it inherently and a tribunal only if the statute confers it.
- How its decisions are treated: whether they bind as precedent, and what appeal lies.
The distinctions
| Court | Tribunal | |
|---|---|---|
| Source | Part of the ordinary judicial system established under the Constitution or a general statute | Created by a specific statute for a specific purpose |
| Jurisdiction | Inherent and general; a civil court may try all suits of a civil nature unless barred | Only what the constituting Act confers; nothing is inherent |
| Composition | Judges, judicially trained | Often a mixed bench: a judicial member with a technical or administrative member |
| Appointment | By the constitutional process, with judicial involvement | By the executive, under the statute |
| Procedure | Bound by the Code of Civil Procedure or the Code of Criminal Procedure | Not bound; guided by natural justice, with specified civil court powers |
| Evidence | Bound by the Indian Evidence Act, now the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023 | Not bound |
| Basis of decision | Law alone | Law, and in some tribunals policy and expediency as well |
| Standard of proof and technique | Strictly judicial | Judicial in substance but flexible in form |
| Contempt power | Inherent in a court of record | Only if the statute confers it |
| Precedent | Decisions of superior courts bind | Decisions do not bind in the same way |
| Control | Appeal within the hierarchy; the High Court supervises subordinate courts | Articles 226 and 227, which cannot be excluded |
| Duty to act judicially | Inherent | Imposed by the statute, expressly or by implication |
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