Government of India Volume I: Analysis and Recommendations

Table of Recommendations 4.17 Judicial structure of tribunal
FUNCTIONS AND POWERS OF THE REGULATOR
For creating a clear judicial structure for the appellate tribunal, the Commission recommends the following provisions:
1. The appellate tribunal will be headed by a presiding officer who is qualified to be a Judge of Supreme Court,
Chief Justice of a High Court, or has served for at least seven years as a Judge of a High Court;
2. The tribunal will have at least two members; the specific number of members of a tribunal will be determined
by the case load;
3. The members of the tribunal must have experience in the fields of finance, economics, accountancy and law;
4. The members may be formed into benches, in which case, each bench must have a person who is qualified
in law; and
5. There will be a statutory appeal available against the decisions of the appellate tribunal to the Supreme
Court.
Table of Recommendations 4.18 Rules of procedure for appellate tribunal
The appellate tribunal should devote attention to standardising the systems for:
1. Application of complaints and responses;
2. Implementation of temporary orders;
3. Introduction of evidence;
4. Hearing of arguments;
5. Determination of the case; and
6. Determination of the penalty.
skills who will be responsible for all the infrastructure and administrative functions of the
appellate tribunal. To ensure that the separate registry does not undermine the independence
of the tribunal, the registrar should be under the supervision of the chief judicial
officer of the appellate tribunal.
The Commission recommends the following provisions relating to the registry of the
appellate tribunal to ensure its efficient functioning:
1. Developing details of procedure: The draft Code requires the appellate tribunal to formulate its
own regulations on procedure, and publish them so as to induce clarity amongst financial firms.
These regulations, on the areas mentioned in Table 4.18, should be formed by the appellate tribunal
itself.
2. Using information technology: The processes of the appellate tribunal should be geared towards
using information technology to integrate its entire judicial functions into an electronic form.
The objective of the use of technology would be to reduce the cost of approaching the tribunal,
greater efficiency in the functioning of the tribunal and greater transparency in the performance
of the tribunal. Information technology should be used to reduce requirements for physical
travel, keeping paper records, and following up on compliance with orders.
3. Resources and reporting: The efficiency of the tribunal’s procedures need to be continuously
monitored and measured. The draft Code will help achieve this by specifying that the tribunal
must comply with accountability requirements through the production of detailed performance
statistics, annual reports and audit reports similar to that of regulators.
4.4. Conclusion
The functioning of regulatory agencies is a critical component of financial law. Regulatory
agencies are remarkable in featuring a combination of regulation-making power that is
delegated by Parliament, executive functions, and quasi-judicial functions. In addition,
there are sound reasons for favouring significant political and operational independence
in regulatory agencies. In order to obtain sound outcomes, the Commission has applied
meticulous care in clearly establishing unconflicted objectives, processes governing legislative
and executive functions, bringing in an element of separation of powers for per-
40 FINANCIAL SECTOR LEGISLATIVE REFORMS COMMISSION