The Supreme Court on Wednesday said the independence of the judiciary can be sustained when incumbents are assured a fair and reasonable conditions of service, as it declared provisions in the Tribunals Reforms Ordinance 2021, fixing a minimum age of 50 years, and four-year tenure of Chairmen and members of various tribunals, as unconstitutional. It held that these provisions were "contrary to the principles of separation of powers, independence of judiciary, and rule of law".

Three separate judgements were delivered by a bench of Justices L. Nageswarao Rao, Hemant Gupta, and Ravindra Bhat on a plea by the Madras Bar Association, challenging the Sections 12 and 13 of the ordinance by which Sections 184 and 186(2) of the Finance Act, 2017 was amended. In a majority judgment, Justices Rao and Bhat held that four-year tenure violated the express direction given in an earlier judgment that term of tribunal members should be five years. This bench set aside those provisions. However, Justice Gupta delivered a dissenting judgment and dismissed the petition.