Kriti Agrawal
The Supreme Court bench comprising Justice L. Nageswara Rao, Justice S. Ravindra Bhat, and Justice Hemant Gupta stated that the Central government should fill vacancies in the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) and the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) within two months.
The Court ordered that the process of forming a search-and-selection committee be started as soon as possible.
The Bench further directed that no advertisements for the participation of other qualified individuals in the appointment of members be issued.
While deciding the cases National Company Law Tribunal and Appellate Tribunal Bar Association v. Ministry of Corporate Affairs and Ors and Amrendra Kumar Singh v. Union of India, the Supreme Court stated that the issue of reappointment of members can be considered separately without waiting for the process of fresh appointments to begin and to expire.
The Bench stated, “We trust and hope that the reappointment procedure will be completed swiftly, as the government has already begun the reappointment procedure by writing to the Chief Justice.”
Senior Counsel Amarjit Singh Chandhiok representing the petitioner stated that he has no issue with the process of reappointment being commenced immediately, but that members who are nearing the end of their tenure should be allowed to continue until the process of reappointment is completed.
He further informed the Court that there are currently 39 members out of a sanctioned strength of 63 and that a lack of members will have an impact on the smooth operation of Tribunals.
KK Venugopal, the Attorney General of India, alluded to section 413(1) of the Companies Act, 2013, indicating that the right of reappointment of members of the Tribunal is controlled by the aforementioned clause of the Companies Act, 2013.
Venugopal further stated that the government has begun the recruitment process by requesting that the Chief Justice of India form a committee to consider the reappointment of NCLT and NCLAT members.
The Court asked the CJI to begin the appointment process by establishing a Search-cum-Selection Committee.
The Bench of Justice L. Nageswara Rao, Justice S. Ravindra Bhat and Hemant Gupta made a categorical observation pertaining to the process of beginning to fill the existing vacancies that “A search-cum-Selection Committee has to be constituted and we direct that the Selection Process be initiated as soon as possible.”