SC Declares Tax Tribunal Unconstitutional

September 25, 2014

A five judge bench of the SC declared the National Tax Tribunal Act of 2005 as unconstitutional. The impugned legislation envisages creation of tribunals to deal with tax related cases only.
The law was declared unconstitutional on the grounds that it took away powers of the higher judiciary to determine questions of substantial law and reposed them in the Tribunals. The legislation surpassed the authority of the HC in an effort to clear the backlog of cases. An appeal from the National Tax Tribunal could be made to the SC but not the HC.
This judgment could have many grave repercussions, as now the constitutionality of other Tribunals like the Company Law Tribunal can also be called into question.

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