NCLT Says It Did Not Issue Notification, On Hearing Urgent Matters

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has said that it did not issue any notification saying that only urgent matters will be heard through the virtual mode due to shortage of members. The clarification from the tribunal, which hears matters related to insolvency and companies, came on Tuesday in the wake of a notification that was circulated on social media platforms.

On August 8, the notification had claimed there was a shortage of members, which has been amplified further as several members seek leave on account of health and personal reasons. The situation is currently being met by members taking up multiple benches through Video Conferencing (VC) and that it has been decided to take only urgent matters through VC at all NCLT benches till further orders, it had said.

"The said notification is not issued by NCLT and it is not authentic," the tribunal said in a statement on August 9. According to the statement, the so-called notification dated August 8 has not been approved by NCLT President. "The said notification is to be ignored as not valid. It has not been uploaded on the NCLT website," it said. The NCLT, set up under the Companies Act, 2013 in June 2016, has one Delhi-based principal bench and 15 other benches in different parts of the country.

As per the information available on its website, besides its President Chief Justice (Retd) Ramalingam Sudhakar, it has 16 Judicial Members and nine Technical Members at different locations. It has a sanctioned strength of around 60 members. Last month, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs had come with a notification for filling up 8 posts of Judicial Members and 11 (eleven) posts of Technical Members in the NCLT and had invited online applications. It is also engaging retired government officers/officials on contractual assignments as Court Officers.

(PTI)