Supreme Court Extends Tenure Of All Tribunal Chairpersons/Members Whose Term Is Due To Expire Before Sept 8

With the Union's consent, the Supreme Court today extended the term of Chairpersons and Members of various Tribunals who are due to retire before September 8, 2026. The tenure of these Chairpersons/Members shall continue till September 8, the Court said.

A bench of CJI Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Vipul M Pancholi passed the order upon mentioning by a counsel who informed that the tenure of a judicial member of the National Green Tribunal was due to expire in June.

Considering the consent given by Attorney General R Venkataramani, on behalf of the Union, the court extended the judicial member's tenure till September 8. To avoid multiple litigations, it extended the order to all Tribunal Chairpersons and Members whose tenures are due to expire before September 8.

It may be recalled that the Court is seized of a bunch of petitions filed by the CAT Bar Association, the Revenue Bar Association etc., which raised an apprehension that many Tribunal Benches will become defunct in view of the impending retirement of incumbent members.

There is a legal vacuum in relation to Tribunals, since the Madras Bar Association case judgment of last year struck down the Tribunal Reforms Act, 2021.

In February this year, the Court had asked the Government to come out with a concrete proposal in terms of the directions in the Madras Bar Association case. The AG informed that the Government was working on a new Bill (likely to be placed before the Parliament in monsoon session), and proposed to extend the tenure of existing members as an interim arrangement.

In March, the Court allowed the Union Government to extend the term of Chairpersons and Members of various Tribunals, who were due to retire soon, till September 8, 2026.

Case Title: REVENUE BAR ASSOCIATION v. UNION OF INDIA. SLP(C) No 11021-11022/2020 and connected cases.