Delhi High Court urges Centre to expeditiously implement Supreme Court's Direction on Establishment of National Tribunals Commission

Delhi High Court urges Centre to expeditiously implement Supreme Court's Direction on Establishment of National Tribunals Commission

The Delhi High Court (HC) was dealing with a petition filed in the matter of R Subramanian (Petitioner) v. Union of India (Respondents) wherein the petitioner was seeking various reliefs regarding the functioning of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) and constitution/appointment of its various benches.

The single-judge Court of Justice Prathiba M Singh observed that there have been more than three months since the Supreme Court's (SC) judgment was delivered. It urged the Union to expeditiously implement the SC's judgment wherein the Top Court had directed for the establishment of the National Tribunals Commission to supervise the appointments to and functioning of Tribunals.

The HC stated in its order that "It only needs to be emphasized that the directions given by the Supreme Court ought to be implemented expeditiously by the Respondent – Authorities."

Advocate R Subramanian argued before the HC that the appointments to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) and National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) were considerably delayed. He added that there is a heavy caseload and there were only nineteen judicial members and twenty-two technical members across all NCLTs in India.

The petitioner sought a direction to the Union to forthwith assess the requirement of the number of Tribunals, based on analysis of the relevant variables including the case filing load and the planned disposal times.

The respondents submitted that the issues raised by the petitioner had already been covered by the Apex Court in the matter of Madras Bar Association v. Union of India & Anr. in November 2020.

The Union added that the SC had directed the formation of a National Tribunals Commission to take care of the administrative and infrastructural needs of Tribunals. It submitted that the Apex Court gave directions regarding the constitution of the 'Tribunals wing' in the Ministry of Finance. It would deal with and finalize requirements of all Tribunals till the National Tribunals Commission is established.

The respondents contended that the Top Court has already covered the said issue in detail that is raised by the petitioner.

The HC while disposing of the petition directed the Union to implement the directions given by the Top Court on its judgment in an expeditious manner.