Money Bills and the Future of the Rajya Sabha

In Rojer Mathew v South Indian Bank Ltd (2019),¹ the constitution bench of the Supreme Court, in its judgment delivered on 13 November 2019, struck down the Tribunal, Appellate Tribunal and other Authorities (Qualifications, Experience and other Conditions of Service of Members) Rules, 2017 (the “tribunal rules”) in their entirety on the grounds of these being unconstitutional and contrary to the law laid down by the Supreme Court on the question of tribunals.

This is not the first time that the Supreme Court has struck down a law related to tribunals in its entirety. In 2015, the Supreme Court struck down the National Tax Tribunal Act, 2005 on similar grounds (Madras Bar Association v Union of India 2015). Governments’ efforts to tribunalise the judiciary and bring it closer to executive control have been the subject of long and bitter litigation (Ghosh et al 2018) and the Rojer Mathew case adds another chapter to the same.