No Technical member at NCLT; Guj HC asks petitioner to make representation to President NCLT

A Public Interest Litigation seeking appointment of a Technical Member at the Ahmedabad Bench of National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) was heard by the Gujarat High Court..A Bench of Chief Justice R Subhash Reddy and Justice Vipul M Pancholi refused to entertain the petition but asked the petitioner to make a representation to the President of NCLT..The Court also granted the petitioner the liberty to come back to the High Court “in the event of any further difficulty”..Advocate Vishal J Dave appeared for the petitioner..Initially the NCLT, Ahmedabad had issued proceedings with two members, Bikki Raveendra Babu, Member (Judicial) and DM Gautam, Member (Technical). Subsequently, in exercise of powers conferred under proviso to Section 419(3) of the Act, the President of the NCLT issued another proceeding for constituting a Bench at Ahmedabad only with the Member (Judicial)..It was the case of the petitioner that having regard to nature of work in the National Company Law Tribunal, unless there is Member (Technical) included while constituting Bench, it is not possible for the Member (Judicial) alone to effectively discharge functions..The Court after hearing the petitioner, noted in its order that Section 419 of the Companies Act empowers the President to constitute a Bench of NCLT with only one member. It therefore declined to entertain the petition. However, it allowed the petitioner the liberty to make a representation before the President of NCLT. The Court also noted that the petitioner can approach the High Court in the event of any further difficulty..“Reading of the provisions referred in Section 419 of the Companies Act, it empowers the President to constitute the Bench with only one member. If there is any difficulty, it is open for the petitioner to make representation, but at the same time, we do not find any reason to entertain the petition at this stage. .While granting liberty to the petitioner to file representation before the President of National Company Law Tribunal, this petition is disposed of. It is made clear that in the event of any further difficulty, liberty is granted to the petitioner to approach this Court.”.Read the order below. Click here to download the Bar & Bench Android App

No Technical member at NCLT; Guj HC asks petitioner to make representation to President NCLT

Related Stories