Tribunals and new laws

Besides the courts, there are special tribunals. A tribunal is a body set up by law to settle certain kinds of disputes. They are quasi-judicial: they work much like a court, but only in their own field.

Each tribunal has its own field:

• Consumer Fora: consumer disputes (a faulty product, a service not given);
• Central Administrative Tribunal: work matters of government employees;
• National Green Tribunal: environmental issues;
• National Company Law Tribunal: company disputes, including insolvency and bankruptcy;
• Armed Forces Tribunal: disputes about the armed forces;
• Appellate Tribunal for Electricity: electricity disputes.

The chapter's example shows why they matter. In 2011 a family paid a builder almost ₹65 lakhs in advance for a flat. Four years later, there was still no building at the site.

The builder had broken the agreement. The family went to the National Consumer Commission. It heard both sides, then ordered the builder to:

• return the money with interest;
• pay the family's cost of the case too.

Notice that last part. Justice means the family is not left poorer for having had to go to court.

A useful word: a litigant is a person in a legal case. The person who sues and the person who is sued are both called litigants.

Three big laws have also been replaced recently:

• the Indian Penal Code, 1860 → the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023;
• the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 → the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023;
• the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 → the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023.

Their aims:

• faster justice;
• using digital evidence;
• better protection for victims.