Centre appoints 31 people as members in NCLT, ITAT ahead of SC hearing on tribunals

On September 6, the SC said its patience is running out due to delay in appointments in tribunals

Days after the Supreme Court criticised the Centre for not appointing members to various tribunals, the government has appointed 31 people as members -- judicial, technical and accountant members -- in the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) and the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT).

Eight judicial and 10 technical members have been appointed to the NCLT, which had vacancies of 19 judicial and 14 other members, while six judicial and seven accountant members -- 25 judicial members and 27 other members -- were cleared for the ITAT.

The appointments came on Saturday, even as the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the matter concerning the huge vacancies in tribunals, which has irked the apex court, on Monday. On September 6, the Supreme Court said that it does not want any confrontation with the Centre but its patience is running out due to delay in appointments in tribunals. It also said it was extremely upset with the way the Tribunal Reforms Act, 2021 was passed in disregard to its previous judgements.

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As of August 5, there were 19 vacancies of Chairmen, including 15 in Debt Recovery Tribunals, 110 judicial members and 111 technical and other members. With the appointment of 31, this number has now come down to 209 at present from 240 on August 5.

Other than NCLT and ITAT, the tribunals which have a high number of vacancies include Railways Claims Tribunal -- 20 judicial and five other members -- and Central Administrative Tribunal -- 18 judicial and 14 other members.

Besides Debt Recovery Tribunals, there are vacancies of Chairperson in National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Debt Recovery Appellate Tribunal in Kolkata, Appellate Tribunal for Forfeited Property (ATFP) and National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT).

In NCLT, Andhra High Court Judge Justice Telaprolu Rajani, Retired Bombay High Court Judge Justice Pradeep Narhari Deshmukh, Retired Madras High Court Judge Justice S Ramathilagam and District Court Judge Deep Chandra Joshi are among those appointed as the judicial members.

The appointments will be for five years from the date of assumption of charge of the posts or till attaining the age of 65 years or until further orders.

Six judicial members have been appointed to the ITAT -- Additional District and Sessions Judges Shatin Goyal and Anubhav Sharma, lawyers Sonjoy Sarma, S Seethalakshmi and T R Senthil Kumar and Law Officer in SBI Manomohan Das.

Besides, there are seven accountant members -- Chartered Accountants Bhagirath Mal Biyani, Balakrishnan S, Jamiappa Dattatraya Battuli, Padmavathy S, Arun Khodpia, Rathod Kamlesh Jayantbhai, and Commissioner of Income Tax Ripote Dipak Pandurang. The appointments in ITAT were made for a period of four years.

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