India’s Supreme Court has ruled that the law establishing India’s National Tax Tribunal (NTT) is unconstitutional, including a section of the law that allowed chartered accountants and corporate secretaries to represent parties before the NTT.
The decision concerns the 2005 NTT Act, which called for specialized tribunals to resolve appeals from the Income-Tax Appellate Tribunal and the Customs, Excise, and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal that would otherwise go to a high court. The courts never came into being because the act was challenged in multiple lawsuits.
In the suit brought by the Madras Bar Association, the court concluded that Parliament does have the power to enact legislation and vest adjudicatory functions in an alternative tribunal. The legislation establishing the NTT was unconstitutional, however, because the newly created tribunals did not conform with the “salient characteristics and standards of the court sought to be replaced,” the court said.
The court found five sections of the NNT Act were unconstitutional, including section 13, which allows chartered accountants to represent a party on appeal before the NTT in place of tax lawyers. Madras Bar Association v. Union of India (1.39 MB).
