The Union government has assigned benches to 21 of the 24-newly appointed judicial and technical members of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), weeks after calls to fast-track the assignment-process were made by the NCLT Bar Association. The Supreme Court too had in a November 2024 ruling expressed disappointment regarding the large vacancies in the NCLT.
The Centre in January had appointed 24 new members to 11 NCLT Benches across the country to fill the vacant positions. There are in total 16 NCLT benches in India, with a sanctioned strength of 63 members (both judicial and technical combined).
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Sources say the delay in assigning the benches was mainly because the induction programme was not concluded. The programme is critical to the sensitise the new members with the working of the tribunal. The new members sat through the sessions of NCLT Delhi.
According to the official notification, issued by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) on Friday, the 21 new members are requested to join their respective benches “at the earliest”.
Last month, the Bar Association had expressed concerns over non-assignment of benches to the appointed members, saying that it was delaying the insolvency proceedings. An SC bench led by former Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud emphasised the lack of members and inadequate infrastructure were impeding the insolvency resolution process.
The apex court had highlighted that the tribunal’s limited membership and inadequate support facilities were hindering operations, with many sessions running only a few days a week or for limited hours each day. It had urged the government to act swiftly to fill vacancies and enhance infrastructure.
“Shortage of members has a direct bearing on the resolution of disputes,” said Abhishek Swaroop, partner, Saraf and Partners. “Each of the existing members is overworked with some benches’ cause lists running in excess of 150 matters a day,” he added.
“One major reason for delay in appointment of new members is that there are very few individuals who are qualified for the job,” said an official source.
Data from the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) shows that the average time for a corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) to conclude has risen to 716 days in 2023-24,
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