Kaushalendra Kumar Singh moved the Delhi High Court challenging appointment of Bachu Venkat Balaram Das as Acting NCLT President, with the court seeking responses from the Centre and Das on the plea.
NEW DELHI: Kaushalendra Kumar Singh, a senior technical member of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), has approached the Delhi High Court challenging the appointment of judicial member Bachu Venkat Balaram Das as Acting President of the NCLT.
A Division Bench of Justice Harish Shankar and Justice Om Prakash Shukla has asked the Central government and Das to respond. Central Government Standing Counsel Nishant Gautam accepted notice for the Union of India.
The post of NCLT President became vacant after Justice Ramalingam Sudhakar retired on February 13. Judicial Member Deep Chandra Joshi was appointed Acting President thereafter; his tenure ended on March 16.
Singh contends that, following Joshi’s retirement, he is currently the senior-most NCLT member and thus should have been named Acting President. He notes the applicable rules mandate that the senior-most member serve as Acting President until a regular NCLT President is appointed.
Despite this, the Centre issued a notification on March 16 appointing BV Balaram Das as Acting President. Singh points out that Das is junior to him, since Singh joined the NCLT on October 1, 2021, while Das joined on October 18, 2021.
ALSO READ: CBI to Probe Lawyers’ Bribery Demand for Favourable NCLT Order
Singh argues the government’s decision to overlook him and appoint Das infringes the right to equality guaranteed by Article 14 of the Constitution.
He emphasizes that Section 405 of the Companies Act, 2013 defines a “member” to include both judicial and technical members.
Singh’s petition asserts,
“Consequently, the term ‘senior-most Member’ (who should be appointed Acting NCLT President, as per Section 415) upon vacancy in the office of President of NCLT would certainly mean the Member who is ‘senior-most’ whether Judicial, or Technical,”
Singh seeks an order quashing the Centre’s March 16 notification appointing Das as Acting President and requests that he be appointed to the role, given his status as the senior-most NCLT member. The petition is filed through advocate Prakhar Srivastav.
Case Title: Kaushalendra Kumar Singh v. Union of India and ors.
FOLLOW US FOR MORE LEGAL UPDATES ON YOUTUBE