Sample Material of Public Administration Study Kit (Paper - I)
Chapter VI - Administrative Law: Administrative Tribunals
ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNALS
Administrative tribunals differ from the ordinary courts in two things, their constitution and procedure. As regards their composition they consist of administrative officials and experts and not judges, for their procedure, it is simpler and much more informal than that the courts. Thus the usual rules of evidence are not observed, lawyers are often not allowed to appear, facts are quickly elicited by act questioning by the hearing officer or tribunal, and decisions are speedily reached.
Administrative Tribunals in various Countries
In the continental countries like France, there is a systematic hierarchy of administrative courts headed by the council of state at the top - to hear appeals from the decision of lower tribunals. It constitutes a complete system like that of regular courts in other countries.
In the Anglo-Saxon countries and those like India which have
been be influenced by their traditions, the growth of administrative tribunals
has been haphazard. They have been established as and when required, but
although their number is now fairly large they have never been organized into a
coherent system. Their constitution and procedure differs from instance to
instance and there is no single higher tribunal to hear appeals
from them.
In India, the development has been along the same lines as in Britain. Due to the backward state of economic and social legislator the number of administrative tribunals in this country is not so large as in Britain, but it is by no means negligible. Here also the adjudicator power is vested, as in Britain, sometimes in separate tribunals like the Income Tax Appellate Tribunals. Boards of Revenue, Labour an Industrial Court,. Labour Appellate Tribunals. etc. while in other case: government departments or particular officers have it. Thus the district collector or deputy commissioner has adjudicatory powers under the legislation for the reduction of agricultural indebtedness, in respect appeals from specified kinds of orders of local bodies, etc.
The number of such tribunals is increasing because of the welfare role taken up by the state under the Constitution. The number of Indian statutes which constitute administrative authorities, purely administrative and quasi-judicial, is large.