The Cyber Appellate Tribunal, and What Happened to It

In one line

The Act created a specialist appellate tribunal in 2000, renamed it in 2008, left it without a Presiding Officer from 2011, and abolished it by a Finance Act in 2017, and a student must be able to describe all four stages.

Why this chapter exists

The syllabus prints "Appellate Tribunal" as a topic, and past papers ask for the establishment, composition, jurisdiction and powers of the Cyber Appellate Tribunal. That Tribunal no longer exists. Nine sections of the Act about it were omitted on 26 May 2017.

So an answer must do two things. State what the Tribunal was, because that is what is asked. And state that it was abolished, when, by what, and what took its place, because an answer that describes a dead tribunal as current law is wrong. Chapter 1140.

Stage one: the Cyber Regulations Appellate Tribunal, 2000

As enacted, section 48(1) empowered the Central Government to establish, by notification, one or more appellate tribunals to be known as the Cyber Regulations Appellate Tribunal.

The name tells you the original conception. In 2000 the Act was about digital signatures and certifying authorities, and the Tribunal was designed to hear appeals from the Controller on licensing and from adjudicating officers on contraventions. "Cyber regulations" meant the regulation of certifying authorities, not cyber crime. Chapters 400 and 430.

Section 49 as enacted: the Tribunal shall consist of one person only, to be called the Presiding Officer, appointed by notification by the Central Government.

Section 50 as enacted, qualifications: a person shall not be qualified unless he is, or has been, or is qualified to be, a Judge of a High Court, or is or has been a member of the Indian Legal Service holding a post in Grade I of that Service for at least three years.

Section 51: a term of five years from the date of entering office, or until the age of sixty-five, whichever is earlier.

Stage two: the Cyber Appellate Tribunal, 2008

The Amendment Act of 2008 renamed it the Cyber Appellate Tribunal, and made it a multi-member body: a Chairperson and such number of other Members as the Central Government might notify, selected by the Central Government in consultation with the Chief Justice of India.

It also inserted sections 52A to 52D: powers of superintendence and direction over the Benches; distribution of business among Benches; the Chairperson's power to transfer cases; and section 52D, decision by majority, where two Members of a Bench differ, by reference to the Chairperson.

The renaming reflects what had happened to the Act. By 2008 the Act was about offences, data protection and intermediaries, and the Tribunal's jurisdiction had grown accordingly.