Commentary on Sections Establishment and Leadership Sections 4 and 5 – President of the Tribunals
11.Section 4 establishes the office of the President of the Scottish Tribunals. It is the responsibility of the Lord President to assign a judge of the Court of Session (other than a temporary judge) to the office who will be the senior member of the Scottish Tribunals. Once assigned to office, the President of Tribunals continues in that office for such time as the Lord President considers appropriate.
12.Where no person is assigned to act or the person assigned to act as the President of Tribunals is unable to act in that capacity, the Lord President may nominate a Vice-President of the Upper Tribunal to act temporarily as the President of Tribunals provided that that person is also a judge of the Court of Session (other than a temporary judge).
13.The Act confers a number of functions directly on the President of Tribunals (see, for example, section 25(2) by which the President of Tribunals may assign a judicial member of the Upper Tribunal as a Vice-President of that Tribunal) and also enables the Lord President to delegate a number of his or her functions to the President of Tribunals (see sections 8 and 9).