NCLAT reshuffle: Justice Sharad Kumar Sharma to go to Delhi, Justice Seshasayee to Chennai

Justice Sharad Kumar Sharma, Judicial Member of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), is likely to move from the tribunal’s Chennai Bench to its Principal Bench in New Delhi from July 20, sources told Bar & Bench.

Justice N Seshasayee, who was appointed as a Judicial Member of the NCLAT last year, is likely to sit at the Chennai Bench from the same date.

These changes are expected to be notified shortly.

The likely reshuffle comes after former Supreme Court judge Justice Ashok Bhushan demitted office as Chairperson of the NCLAT on July 4.

Justice Sharma is a former judge of the Uttarakhand High Court. He was appointed as a Judicial Member of the NCLAT in 2024 and was assigned matters pending before the Chennai Bench.

His stint at the Chennai Bench saw some unusual courtroom developments.

In July 2024, the Chennai Bench witnessed a heated exchange after a lawyer submitted that the Karnataka High Court had directed the NCLAT to list a matter on priority.

Justice Sharma questioned how a High Court could direct the appellate tribunal on when to list a matter.

In November 2024, Justice Sharma recused from an insolvency matter after saying that his brother had messaged him in connection with the case.

In August 2025, he again recused from a matter after stating in open court that a litigating party had attempted to approach him through a retired High Court judge for a favourable order.

The tribunal later recorded that it had been approached by “one of the most revered members of the higher judiciary” in the matter.

The Supreme Court subsequently transferred the case from the NCLAT Chennai Bench to the Principal Bench in Delhi. It also said that Justice Sharma’s allegation would be examined on the administrative side.

Justice Seshasayee retired as a judge of the Madras High Court on January 7, 2025.

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs had, on May 14, 2025, appointed Justices Seshasayee and Mohammad Faiz Alam Khan as Judicial Members of the NCLAT.

The tribunal functions from its Principal Bench in New Delhi and its regional bench in Chennai, which caters to litigants from southern states.

The NCLAT hears appeals from orders passed by the National Company Law Tribunal, the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India and the Competition Commission of India, among others.