NEW DELHI, June 15: The Supreme Court Wednesday adjourned a plea filed by the NCLT Bar Association challenging the notification fixing the tenure of the members of the National Company Law Tribunal as three years.
A vacation bench of Justices J K Maheshwari and Hima Kohli asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to submit two sets of resolutions of the committee headed by the Chief Justice of India.
“Only one copy for two judges? We’ll have it tomorrow, we didn’t expect this,” the bench said while posting the matter for Thursday.
The Centre had earlier told the top court that a committee chaired by the Chief Justice of India had held a meeting on April 20 in which the question regarding the tenure of 23 members of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has been deliberated upon.
Mehta, appearing for the Centre, had told a vacation bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and Bela M Trivedi that the committee, which also comprises apex court judge Justice Surya Kant and Secretary of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, is seized of the issue and the next meeting is likely to be held within a week or 10 days.
The solicitor general had said the committee had considered all aspects of the matter, including verification reports of character and antecedents, which are considered to be one of the important factors for the assessment of the suitability of the 23 members for extension of their term of office keeping in view the sensitive nature of their duties.
He had submitted that the next retirement of one of the NCLT members is on June 20.
Mehta had submitted that the committee chaired by the Chief Justice of India and consisting of Justice Surya Kant and the Secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs held its meeting on April 20, 2022, where the question regarding the tenure of the twenty-three members of the National Company Law Tribunal of the 2019 batch has been deliberated upon.
The apex court had noted the submissions of senior advocate Maninder Singh, who appeared for the petitioner and submitted that the term of all the members of the 2019 batch would come to an end on July 3, 2022, though the term should legitimately be for a period of five years. (PTI)
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