6.3 Meaning, Nature and Functions of Administrative Tribunals

Meaning: the administrative tribunal is the specialized adjudicative body created by statute outside the regular court hierarchy — the Administrative Court and the specialized tribunals' family (the tribunal as institution; the quasi-judicial as function). Nature: statutory creatures (no inherent jurisdiction — only the enabling act's grants); the judicial-and-administrative blend (often with the administrative members alongside the legal); bound by natural justice; NOT bound by the full Civil Procedure Code (the simplified procedure is the design's point). Functions: the specialized disputes' first-instance (and sometimes appellate) adjudication: the service matters (the civil servants' promotion, transfer, punishment disputes — the Administrative Court's core); the revenue appeals; the banking recovery; the labor disputes (the labor courts' family); the election petitions' specialized forums — the administrative justice's machinery.