Take interim steps for appointments in tribunals: SC to Govt
New Delhi: The Supreme Court today asked the Centre and other stakeholders to sit together and formulate an "interim arrangement" to deal with appointments to be made in various tribunals in the country.
The top court, hearing a clutch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Finance Act 2017 and the rules under it to regulate issue like appointment and tenure of members of tribunals, said that though it would deal with this aspect later, the issue of vacancies have to be addressed on an urgent basis as tribunals have to be "manned".
A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra asked Attorney General K K Venugopal, representing the Centre, and senior lawyers like Arvind Datar and C A Sundaram, appearing for those opposed to the new Act, to sit together and make an "interim arrangement" to deal with appointments in tribunals in view of the fact that the new law and the Rules are under challenge before it.
The bench, also comprising Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, said, "The petitions are pending here. But, tribunals have to be manned. We have to find an interim solution".
The bench posted the matters on February 2 when it may finalise the interim arrangement to deal with the appointments till it finally decides on the validity of the new law and the rules, which govern the affairs of the panels including the National Green Tribunal (NGT) and the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT).
During the hearing, the counsel for petitioners, including Congress leader Jairam Ramesh and NGO Social Action for Forest and Environment, said the issue was whether Parliament can delegate its rule-making powers to the executive and can those rules undermine the power of judiciary in making appointments to the tribunals.
Senior advocate Arvind Datar, appearing as amicus curiae, said that earlier there used to be three judicial and two executive members in the selection committees, meant for choosing presiding officers and members to the tribunals, but now the position has been reversed and the executive has got more say in the selection.
Datar said the tenure of the Chairperson appointed to the Tribunals should be extended to five years instead of three years now.
"The committee appointing judicial members to tribunals like NGT and other tribunals should comprise only two members from the Union Government, instead of the present rule allowing three members from Centre and two members from judicial background," he said.
The Finance Act and the rules framed are striking at the root of independence of quasi-judicial bodies, he said.
In the same vein, another lawyer said "the tribunals will now be controlled by the executive."
Earlier, the apex court had directed the Centre to file amended draft rules, to be framed under the 2017 Finance Act which would deal with appointment and service conditions of judicial and non-judicial members of as many as 19 tribunals including the NGT and the CAT.
The court had asked Venugopal that the draft amended Tribunal, Appellate and other Authorities (Qualifications, Experience and other conditions of Service of Members) Rules, 2017, which would govern the procedure of appointment, removal and service conditions of chairperson and members of tribunals, be filed before it.
Several individuals and organisations have moved the apex court challenging the constitutional validity of the 2017 Finance Act and the rules alleging that these would destroy independent functioning of tribunals as they give primacy to the executive in deciding the constitution, qualifications of members, their appointments and removal from tribunals.
The new law and rules provide that the appointment committees, to be headed by the CJI or his nominees, will have more members from the Executive and hence, undermined the judicial independence of tribunals and impinged upon the doctrine of separation of powers, the petitions alleged.
Earlier, the apex court had issued notices on petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the 2017 law and rules framed under the statute.
The Finance Act, which came into effect from April 1 last year, led to framing of the Rules and they allegedly gave "unbridled" powers to the Executive to decide Constitution, qualifications of members, their appointments and removal etc, they said.
One of the petitions said the alterations brought about by the Finance Act, would weaken functioning of tribunals including the NGT and curtail their powers.
It claimed that the tribunal rules have severely diluted the minimum qualifications for appointment of members to the NGT, including the chairperson and judicial members.
It claimed that there was a "clear and present danger of persons being appointed as the chairperson/judicial members of the NGT, who have no judicial or even legal training and experience" and of those without significant technical and scientific knowledge being appointed as expert members, which violated the guidelines laid down by the apex court.
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LoP Ashoka accuses Karnataka govt of 'diverting' SC/ST funds for guarantees
Bengaluru (PTI): Leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly, R Ashoka, on Tuesday accused the state government of "diverting funds" meant for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes under the SCSP and TSP components to finance its guarantee schemes. He also alleged that the budget presented by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has undermined the principle of social justice.
During the discussion on the 2026–27 state budget in the assembly, the BJP leader claimed that substantial portions of funds earmarked for Dalit welfare had been diverted for other schemes over the past four years.
He also questioned the implementation of allocations under the Scheduled Caste Sub-Plan (SCSP) and Tribal Sub-Plan (TSP), saying the government has "failed" to ensure that the money actually reached the intended communities.
“Today, the money here has been diverted. In this diversion of funds, social justice has been ignored. If the money meant for Dalits is looted, can that be called social justice?” he asked while criticising the government’s handling of SC/ST allocations.
According to the opposition leader, around Rs 14,198 crore had been diverted in the current financial year alone from SCSP and TSP allocations to various guarantee schemes announced by the government.
Listing the expenditure under these programmes, the former Deputy CM said Rs 8,296.32 crore had been allocated for the Gruha Lakshmi scheme, Rs 1,537 crore for Shakti, Rs 1,612 crore for Anna Bhagya, Rs 2,591.6 crore for Gruha Jyothi and Rs 1,062 crore for Yuva Nidhi.
“In total, Rs 14,198 crore has been diverted this year,” he said.
He further claimed that the diversion of funds had increased over the years.
“In 2023–24, Rs 11,144 crore was taken from SC/ST funds. In 2024–25, Rs 14,282.68 crore was taken. In 2025–26, Rs 13,343.84 crore was taken. In 2026–27, Rs 14,198.97 crore has been taken.”
“This amount keeps increasing year after year. In total, Rs 53,059.45 crore belonging to SC/ST communities has been taken during Siddaramaiah’s tenure,” he added.
Ashoka said that although the budget documents projected large allocations for Dalit welfare, the actual funds reaching the beneficiaries were significantly lower.
The government had earmarked Rs 44,632 crore for SC/ST communities in 2026–27, but once the diversion towards guarantee schemes was removed, the effective amount available was much less, he added.
The BJP leader also referred to a review meeting on January 31 to examine the utilisation of SCSP and TSP funds.
As per the review, Ashoka said only a part of the sanctioned amount had actually been released and spent.
“For SCSP, Rs 29,872 crore was allocated, but by January 27, only Rs 16,699 crore had been released, and the expenditure was Rs 15,391 crore."
Similarly, under the Tribal Sub-Plan, he alleged that Rs 11,900 crore had been allocated, but only Rs 6,521 crore was released and Rs 6,002 crore spent by the end of January.
“Even after eleven months, only about 50 per cent of the funds were released by the Finance department.”
Ashoka also criticised the allocation of SC/ST funds to departments and schemes that he said had little direct relevance to the welfare of those communities.
These included wildlife conservation programmes in the forest department, the tiger conservation project, maintenance of hospital buildings, and IT policy formulation.
“How are Dalits related to wildlife conservation? Are there SC tigers and ST elephants? How can funds meant for Dalits be used for tiger conservation?” he asked.
He also objected to funds being allocated from SC/ST components to institutions such as the Sanjay Gandhi Trauma and Orthopaedic Institute in Bengaluru and for Public Works Department buildings.
The opposition leader also charged that the government hiked taxes and prices of various commodities and services ranging from milk to petrol, vehicles, drinking water, sewerage cess, electricity, metro rail and bus fare, school and college fees, property taxes in Bengaluru, property e-Khata fee, A-Khata conversion, exam fee and birth and death certificate issuance.
“People are being taxed for digging cellar. The mines and geology department has issued notices to people. This is unheard of for me,” Ashoka said.
