Benches, Orders and Procedure

In one line

The Tribunal sits in benches of one judicial and one technical member, with a single judicial member for classes of cases the President specifies; it is not bound by the Code of Civil Procedure but is bound by natural justice and has a civil court's powers; it may rectify a mistake apparent from the record within two years; it punishes contempt as a High Court does; and the Limitation Act applies to proceedings before it.

In exam wording: under section 424(1) the Tribunal and the Appellate Tribunal shall not, while disposing of any proceeding or appeal before them, be bound by the procedure laid down in the Code of Civil Procedure 1908, but shall be guided by the principles of natural justice, and, subject to the other provisions of this Act or of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2016 and of any rules made under it, shall have power to regulate their own procedure.

Why the law has this at all

A tribunal is created to be quicker than a court, and the price of speed is usually procedure. The Act's solution is the standard one for Indian tribunals, and it has three moving parts that must be stated together.

Freedom from the Code of Civil Procedure. The Tribunal is not bound by it, so the elaborate machinery of pleadings, issues and appeals within a suit does not apply, and it may regulate its own procedure.

But bound by natural justice. Freedom from procedure is not freedom from fairness. Section 424(1) makes the principles of natural justice the governing standard, and s.420(1) requires a reasonable opportunity of being heard before any order.

And armed with a civil court's powers. A body that can be evaded is useless, so s.424(2) gives it the powers of a civil court on summoning, discovery, evidence, public records, commissions and dismissal or restoration for default; s.425 gives it the contempt jurisdiction of a High Court; and s.429 lets it call on the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Chief Judicial Magistrate or District Collector to take possession of property.

The composition rules in s.419 do a different job. They carry out R. Gandhi's direction that the judicial element be preserved, and they are the structural counterpart of the qualification rules treated in [The Tribunal Constituted].

Section 419: benches

419(1): there shall be constituted such number of Benches of the Tribunal as may, by notification, be specified by the Central Government.

419(2): the Principal Bench shall be at New Delhi, presided over by the President.

419(3): the ordinary bench. The powers of the Tribunal shall be exercisable by Benches consisting of two Members, of whom one shall be a Judicial Member and the other a Technical Member.