Jai Singh And Anr. vs N.A. Subramaniam And Anr. on 2 June, 1982
10. The procedure and powers of the Claims Tribunal are provided under Section 169 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. Subsection (1) of Section 169 provides that the Claims Tribunal may, subject to any rules that may be made in this behalf, follow such summary procedure as it thinks fit. Similar provision is provided under Section 11 of the Industrial Disputes Act. A Full Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in Jai Singh v. N, A. Subramaniam, AIR 1982 Punj & Har 407, has considered the scope of Section 100C of the Motor Vehicles Act of 1939. While considering the powers of the Claims Tribunal regarding the sentence "The Tribunal may, subject to any rules that may be made in this behalf, follow such summary procedure as it thinks fit, the Court held that the Tribunal is at liberty to follow any procedure that it may chose to evolve itself so long as the said procedure is not arbitrary, is consistent with the rules of natural justice, and does not contravene the positive provisions of law, When such a wide power exists in the Tribunal, there will absolutely be no justification to reconstruct the exercise of that power on the ground that the legislature impliedly intended to do so by not applying all provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure. In order to do justice and to achieve the purpose for which it has been constituted, a
constituted, a Tribunal would have inherent power to apply all or any of the procedures of the C.P.C. on principles of justice, equity and good conscience. The Supreme Court while considering the scope of the similar provisions under Section 11 of Industrial Disputes Act, held that the power of review is not inherent power, it must be conferred cither specifically or by necessary implication. SubSections (1) and (3) of Section 11 of the Act themselves make a distinction between procedure and powers of the Tribunal under the Act -- while the procedure is left to be derived by the Tribunal to suit carrying out of its functions under the Act, the powers of the Civil Court conferred upon it are clearly defined.