Umamageswari Maruthappan
The Bombay High Court had received a petition demanding the setting up of a National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) Bench in Mumbai.
The plea was filed by advocate Nicky Pokar for effecting the 2019 order of the Supreme court that directed the Centre to establish NCLAT at divisions outside Delhi within six months.
It was alleged that “NCLAT’s operating procedure mandates the filing of physical/hard copies of appeal interim applications causing difficulty for advocates and petitioners outside Delhi given the current pandemic situation. The poor financial health of a large section of the public, coupled with travel and other restrictions, aggravates the difficulties. Seeking speedy and cost-effective justice is the casualty in corollary.”
The petitioner also sought directions to enable e-filing as a standard procedure because the current system mandates submission of hard copy along with the online one.
The Bombay High Court Bench of Justices A.A. Sayed and Madhav Jamdar had postponed the matter for hearing for two weeks.
The NCLAT is the appellate authority in cases dealt under the Companies Act 2013, the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code and the Competition Commission of India.
Recently, on 25th January 2021, the NCLAT Bench at Chennai was virtually inaugurated by the Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman.
This will be the second bench after the one in Delhi which will have jurisdiction in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and the Union Territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry.
