Repealed tribunal provisions cannot support relief where the amended statute fixes forum and bench composition.

The amended PMLA tribunal scheme controlled the forum and bench composition after the Finance Act, 2016 repealed the earlier provisions on composition and member qualifications. Because a tribunal must act under the statute as amended, relief could not be claimed on the basis of repealed provisions when the governing law expressly permitted single-member or two-member benches through the substituted appellate tribunal framework. The application was therefore found infructuous and without merit.

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Issues: Whether the application seeking constitution of the appeal before a particular bench survived after the statutory amendments brought in by the Finance Act, 2016, and whether relief could be granted on the basis of provisions that had been repealed.

Analysis: The application was founded on provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 governing the Appellate Tribunal, including provisions relating to its composition and qualifications of members. Those provisions had been repealed by the Finance Act, 2016 with effect from 1-6-2016. After the amendment, the Appellate Tribunal under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 was to function through the Appellate Tribunal constituted under the Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators (Forfeiture of Property) Act, 1976, and the amended scheme specifically permitted constitution of single-member or two-member benches. A tribunal being a creature of statute is bound to act in accordance with the governing statute as amended.

Conclusion: The application was held to be infructuous and without merit, and was dismissed.

Ratio Decidendi: Relief cannot be granted on the basis of repealed provisions when the governing statute, as amended, expressly provides the applicable forum and bench composition.

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