Court case(1997) 3 SCC 261

The Administrative Tribunals Act 1985, made under Article 323A (inserted by the 42nd Amendment, 1976), set up Central and State Administrative Tribunals and, by section 28 read with Article 323A(2)(d), excluded the jurisdiction of all courts except the Supreme Court under Article 136 over service matters. S.P. Sampath Kumar (1987) had upheld the scheme on the footing that tribunals were effective substitutes for the High Courts. Later Benches doubted this, and the question was referred to seven judges.

Ahmadi CJ for a unanimous Court held that the power of judicial review vested in the High Courts under Articles 226 and 227 and in the Supreme Court under Article 32 is an integral and essential feature of the Constitution, part of its basic structure, and cannot be ousted even by constitutional amendment. Clause 2(d) of Article 323A and clause 3(d) of Article 323B, to the extent they excluded that jurisdiction, were struck down. Tribunals may test the vires of statutory provisions (but not of their parent statute) and continue as courts of first instance, supplementing the High Courts; their decisions are subject to scrutiny by a Division Bench of the High Court, and the direct appeal to the Supreme Court under Article 136 from a tribunal was discouraged.