SC Verdict Tomorrow On Validity Of Provisions Of Finance Act 2017 Affecting Tribunals

The Supreme Court will pronounce verdict tomorrow at 2 PM on the pleas challenging the constitutional validity of the provisions of the Finance Act 2017 which affect the composition and functioning of various tribunals.

On April 10, the Constitution Bench comprising CJI Ranjan Gogoi, Justices Ramana, Chandrachud, Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna had reserved judgment in the cases of Roger Mathew and Revenue Bar Association challenging the provisions of Finance Act 2017 which affected the powers and structures of various judicial tribunals such as National Green Tribunal, Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, National Company Law Appellate Tribunal.

Finance Act, which is passed as a money bill, cannot change the composition of tribunals, argued the petitioners. Senior Advocate Arvind P Datar led the arguments for the petitioners' side.

Attorney General K K Venugopal submitted that the Court cannot exercise judicial review over the Speaker's decision to certify a bill as a money bill under Article 110 of the Constitution. Reliance was placed on the decision in Aadhaar case, where the SC had upheld the passing of Aadhaar Act as a money bill.