The Madhya Pradesh High Court has expressed concern over the prolonged delay in appointing permanent members to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) bench in Indore. Despite its establishment in January 2017, the Indore bench remains without full-time members, prompting the court to seek explanations from the Union government regarding this inaction.
A division bench comprising Justice Vivek Rusia and Justice Gajendra Singh is presiding over a writ petition filed by the High Court Bar Association. The petition highlights that, since its inception, the Indore NCLT bench has not had any regular full-time members. Instead, its proceedings have been managed remotely by a division bench from NCLT Ahmedabad through video conferencing in the latter half of the day. This arrangement, intended as a temporary measure, has persisted for over eight years, raising concerns about the bench's functionality and effectiveness.
The court has directed the Deputy Solicitor General, Shri Himanshu Joshi, to obtain instructions from the President of NCLT and the Principal Secretaries of the Ministry of Law & Justice and the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. The aim is to understand why at least two members from NCLT Delhi or Mumbai have not been permanently posted to the Indore bench. The judges emphasized that if a satisfactory explanation is not provided, the court may issue a judicial order or writ to address the matter.
The petitioners have also submitted a status report detailing the conditions of various NCLT benches across the country. Notably, the Principal Bench in Delhi has six division benches, with Division Bench No. 6 operating without a courtroom since 2019. Similarly, the Kolkata bench lacks a courtroom for Court No. 3, and in Mumbai, out of seven permanent division benches, Division Bench No. 7 does not have a courtroom. Given these circumstances, the petitioners suggest that members without courtrooms in their current postings could be reassigned to the Indore bench to make it fully operational.
Furthermore, the High Court Bar Association has made representations and personally communicated with the President of NCLT, urging action on this issue. However, these appeals have yet to elicit a response. The court has scheduled the next hearing for May 13, indicating its intent to closely monitor the situation and ensure that the Indore NCLT bench becomes fully functional with the appointment of permanent members.
0 Comments
Thank you for your response. It will help us to improve in the future.