Apex Court Adjourns Plea Challenging Notification Fixing Tenure Of Members Of NCLT

A vacation bench of Justices J K Maheshwari and Hima Kohli asked lawman Tushar Mehta to submit two sets of resolutions of the committee headed by the judge of India.

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 peace officer Tushar Mehta to submit two sets of resolutions of the committee headed by the magistrate of India.

"Only one copy for 2 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 highest court that a committee chaired by the jurist of India had held a gathering on April 20 within 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 difficulty and also the next meeting is probably going to be held within per week or 10 days. 

The peace officer had said the committee had considered all aspects of the matter, including verification reports of character and antecedents, which are considered to be one in all the important factors for the assessment of the suitability of the 23 members for extension of their term of office keeping seeable the sensitive nature of their duties. 

He had submitted that the subsequent retirement of 1 of the NCLT members is on June 20.

Mehta had submitted that the committee chaired by the justice of India and consisting of Justice Surya Kant and therefore 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 endwise July 3, 2022, though the term should legitimately be for a period of 5 years.