UPSC Mains 2016 GS Paper 2 Q8: model answer

When a telecom company disputes a licence fee, it goes to TDSAT, not a district court. When a consumer is cheated, she goes to a Consumer Commission. These are quasi-judicial bodies: created by law, deciding disputes in a court-like way, without being courts.

Features

• Created by statute (or by the Constitution, as with Article 323A and 323B tribunals).
• Adjudicate rights and liabilities on evidence, following natural justice: notice and hearing.
• Can summon, take evidence and impose penalties, often with civil-court powers.
• Members may be experts, not only judges.
• Decisions are subject to appeal or judicial review (L. Chandra Kumar, 1997).

Examples

• Election Commission deciding disqualification references and party symbols.
• NHRC and State commissions inquiring into violations.
• Central Information Commission hearing RTI appeals.
• Competition Commission ruling on abuse of dominance.
• NGT in environmental disputes; NCLT in insolvency.
• Consumer Commissions under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.
• The Speaker under the Tenth Schedule (Kihoto Hollohan, 1992).

Why they exist

Speed, specialisation and lower cost, and relief to courts that are overloaded. A spectrum or tariff dispute needs an engineer and an economist on the bench, not only a lawyer.

Concerns

Executive control over appointments and tenures, vacancies, and appeals that flow straight to the Supreme Court. The 2025 order on a National Tribunals Commission aims to fix this.

In short, they are courts for specialists; their credibility depends on how independent their members are.