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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).
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.
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