Can NCDRC Technical Member Sitting Singly Preside Over Bench? Supreme Court To Consider

The Supreme Court recently stayed proceedings in a consumer case pending before the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, on challenge to an order passed therein by a Technical Member alone.

A bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Sandeep Mehta granted stay upon hearing Senior Advocate Trideep Pais for the appellant, who contended that the impugned order suffered from the vice of "corum non judice". Pais conceded that the ground had not been raised in the petition, however, he referred to a recent order passed by another bench of the Court (Ref: State of Rajasthan v. Kamal Travels Kokks International), wherein Rajasthan High Court's view that a technical member sitting singly cannot preside over a bench of the NCDRC was upheld.

Accordingly, the bench of Justices Datta and Mehta issued notice on the appellant's challenge to NCDRC's order and stayed the proceedings in the consumer case.

It is worthwhile to mention that in February this year, a three-Judge bench of the Court (comprising Justice Datta) lamented the fact that the Court has to often sit in appeal over decisions of various Commissions/Tribunals constituted only by a Technical Member. During the hearing of this case, Justice Surya Kant suggested that wherever Tribunal/Commission Benches are constituted by a Single Member, the same should be a Judicial Member.

The judge further expressed displeasure at the fact that Judicial Members of Tribunals/Commissions, with their judicially trained minds, are often sitting as Junior Member on the Benches and not authoring decisions. In some instances, it was added, the Chairpersons/Presidents themselves constitute the Benches in a manner such that they are presided solely by Non-Judicial Members.

In the context of NCDRC, Attorney General R Venkataramani informed the Court on this occasion that the statute under which NCDRC is constituted contains no explicit provision saying whether the Bench should comprise a Judicial or Technical Member (or how many). It is the President who constitutes the Bench. The AG suggested that the statute may require a second look and sought time to come back with the government's response on the bench's observations.

Case Title: S S VERSUS RAJAT GUPTA & ORS., Civil Appeal No.13447/2024

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