Supreme Court adjourns NCLT Bar Association's Plea Challenging NCLT Members Term Fixed At 3 Years

The Supreme Court on Wednesday adjourned a plea filed by the National Company Law Tribunal Bar Association challenging the notification fixing the tenure of NCLT Members. The matter has been adjourned after the Solicitor General Tushar Mehta informed the bench that a Committee headed by the Chief Justice of India NV Ramana is considering the issue and is scheduled to convene a meeting within a few days.

A bench of Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice Bela M Trivedi said that then in this regard the matter can be taken up on June 15.

The bench was hearing a petition filed by the National Company Law Tribunal Bar Association challenging the notification issued by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs fixing the term to 3 years of attaining the age of 65 years.

SG Mehta submitted that a meeting was convened by the Committee headed by CJI Ramana, whereas, the committee had considered reports of the character and antecedents of 23 candidates for their extension. The next meeting of the committee is scheduled in the next 10 days and the first retirement is on June 20. In this view, the matter can be taken up after the meeting.

However, Senior Advocate Maninder Singh appearing for the bar association said that it is like a sword hanging for a judicial member.

In further to this, the bench has listed the matter for June 15 while considering that the CJI has already seized the matter and the first retirement among the batch is scheduled on June 20.

Earlier, the apex court had issued notice on a plea challenging the notification fixing the tenure of National Company Law Tribunal Members

The plea had submitted that the early leaving of the members will leave several seats vacant that will lead to the pendency of the matters.

In addition to this, the plea had also stated that the notification is in violation of the Supreme Court judgment in Madras Bar Association Vs. Union of India & Anr. wherein it was said that the tenure shall be 5 years for the members.

Earlier, the counsel appearing for the association had submitted that the tenure of 3 years is a very short period and it isn't useful as by the time a member attains the required knowledge, experience, and expertise, the tenure expires.

Cause Title: National Company Law Tribunal Bar Association Vs. Union of India