New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Thursday said the petition by an NCLT technical member challenging the appointment of Bachu Venkat Balaram Das as acting president was infructuous in view of the Centre appointing a former high court judge to the post of the tribunal's president.
A bench of Justices C Hari Shankar and O P Shukla noted that the Centre has cleared the appointment of Justice Anupinder Singh Grewal, former judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, as the president of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).
"With that, this writ petition which deals with the post of acting president of NCLT has been rendered infructuous," the bench said, as it closed the proceedings on the petition by Kaushalendra Kumar Singh.
On April 29, the Centre notified the appointment of Justice Grewal as NCLT president for five years with effect from the date of assumption of charge or till attaining the age of 67 years, whichever is earlier.
In the high court, Singh contended that the law mandates the appointment of the senior-most member, irrespective of him being a judicial or a technical member, as acting president of the tribunal, and said since he was appointed as a member of the tribunal prior in time, Das could not have been made acting president.
The petitioner had first approached the high court in March and claimed that based on the date of joining, he was the senior most member after the former president who retired on March 16.
Since there are no rules governing inter se seniority amongst members, seniority must be decided based on the date of joining and since Das joined the tribunal two weeks after the petitioner's appointment, the petitioner was senior to him, his plea said.
The petitioner was appointed as a technical member on October 1, 2021. Das, who became a judicial member on October 18, 2021, was appointed acting president on March 17.
This plea was subsequently withdrawn by the petitioner on April 1 to approach the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) instead.
The petitioner then filed the present petition after the CAT said it had no jurisdiction over the issue.
In its reply filed to the earlier petition, the Centre said Das was considered for additional charge of acting president, NCLT following the "convention" of appointing the senior-most judicial member to the post.
A bench of Justices C Hari Shankar and O P Shukla noted that the Centre has cleared the appointment of Justice Anupinder Singh Grewal, former judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, as the president of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).
"With that, this writ petition which deals with the post of acting president of NCLT has been rendered infructuous," the bench said, as it closed the proceedings on the petition by Kaushalendra Kumar Singh.
On April 29, the Centre notified the appointment of Justice Grewal as NCLT president for five years with effect from the date of assumption of charge or till attaining the age of 67 years, whichever is earlier.
In the high court, Singh contended that the law mandates the appointment of the senior-most member, irrespective of him being a judicial or a technical member, as acting president of the tribunal, and said since he was appointed as a member of the tribunal prior in time, Das could not have been made acting president.
The petitioner had first approached the high court in March and claimed that based on the date of joining, he was the senior most member after the former president who retired on March 16.
Since there are no rules governing inter se seniority amongst members, seniority must be decided based on the date of joining and since Das joined the tribunal two weeks after the petitioner's appointment, the petitioner was senior to him, his plea said.
The petitioner was appointed as a technical member on October 1, 2021. Das, who became a judicial member on October 18, 2021, was appointed acting president on March 17.
This plea was subsequently withdrawn by the petitioner on April 1 to approach the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) instead.
The petitioner then filed the present petition after the CAT said it had no jurisdiction over the issue.
In its reply filed to the earlier petition, the Centre said Das was considered for additional charge of acting president, NCLT following the "convention" of appointing the senior-most judicial member to the post.
