Supreme Court calls Appointment of NCLAT Chairperson to be “Hurried”

Aishwarya Rathore-

Published on: September 15, 2021 at 16:11 IST

The Supreme Court voiced its displeasure on Wednesday with Justice M Venugopal’s ‘Hurried’ appointment as Acting Chairperson of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT).

Chief Justice N V Ramana stated, “I am in advance telling you (Attorney General) to appear tomorrow, it’s regarding premature retirement of Justice Cheema as NCLAT Chairman. It appears he has been replaced.

Chief Justice Ramana further stated, “10 days before Justice Cheema’s retirement, Justice Venugopal was appointed hurriedly as NCLAT Chairman. I don’t know how this is happening.”

On Saturday, the Union Government approved the proposal to appoint eight Judicial Members and ten Technical Members for the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).

Justice M Venugopal has been appointed as the Acting Chairperson of the NCLAT, as the key Appellate Tribunal continues to be without a permanent head now for more than a year and a half.

Last week, the Supreme Court voiced concern that the Centre was “Emasculating” tribunals by failing to appoint officials to quasi-judicial bodies due to a staff crisis.

Accordingly, the Court will hear the matter on Thursday and directed the Attorney General to take instruction on the issue.

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