Top NCLAT officials get extension

Top NCLAT officials get extension

A government notification has extended tenures of Justices (both retired) Bansi Lal Bhat and A.I.S. Cheema till their attaining the age of 67 years or until further orders

The Union government has extended the tenures of the two top retired judges, namely Justices (both retired) Bansi Lal Bhat and A.I.S. Cheema, associated with the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT).

A notification to this effect was issued by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.

"In continuation of this Ministry's notification dates 28thOctober, 2020, the Central Government hereby revise the tenure of Justice Bansi Lal Bhat and Justice A.I.S. Cheema as Judicial Member NCLAT for a period till their attaining the age of 67 years, or until further orders, whichever is earlier," a central government notification dated 11 January 2021, said.

Justice Bhat's tenure as the officiating Chairperson of NCLAT was scheduled to end on 31 October 2020. This is the fourth extension for Justice Bhat ever since he took over the post on 15 March 2020 for three months. He was given an extension for three months on 15 June and thereafter for one month.

Justice Bhat had joined the NCLAT as a judicial member on 17 October 2017. A former judge of the Jammu & Kashmir High Court, Justice Bhat served as a judicial member of the Armed Forces Tribunal before his appointment in the NCLAT and had presided over benches of the Armed Forces Tribunal at Chandigarh, Shimla, Jaipur and Delhi.

Justice Cheema retired as a judge of Bombay High Court, was appointed as Judicial Member in the NCLAT on 11 September 2017.

The NCLAT, a quasi-judicial body, was constituted under Section 410 of the Companies Act, 2013 to hear appeals against the orders of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) and orders passed by NCLT under the IBC and Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI). Besides, it is also the Appellate Tribunal for hearing directions/decisions/orders passed by the Competition Commission of India (CCI).

With the latest notification fixing their respective tenures till attaining the age of 67 years, while Justice Bhat would serve as the NCLAT chairperson till 18 April, Justice Cheema would serve NCLAT till 10 September.