New Delhi

The Delhi High Court on Thursday declared a petition challenging the appointment of Bachu Venkat Balaram Das as acting president of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) as infructuous, following the Centre’s decision to appoint a regular president to the tribunal.

A bench comprising Justices C Hari Shankar and O P Shukla noted that Justice Anupinder Singh Grewal has been appointed as the NCLT president. In view of this development, the court observed that the issue raised in the petition no longer required adjudication and accordingly closed the proceedings initiated by petitioner Kaushalendra Kumar Singh.

The Centre had issued a notification on April 29 confirming Justice Grewal’s appointment for a five-year term from the date he assumes charge, or until he reaches the age of 67, whichever is earlier.

Before the court, Singh argued that the law requires the senior-most member of the tribunal—whether judicial or technical—to be designated as acting president. He contended that since he joined the tribunal earlier than Das, he was senior and should have been given the role.

Singh had initially approached the high court in March, stating that after the previous president retired on March 16, he became the senior-most member based on his date of appointment. He further argued that in the absence of clear rules governing inter se seniority, it should be determined by the date of joining. As Das joined around two weeks later, Singh claimed precedence.

According to the record, Singh was appointed as a technical member on October 1, 2021, while Das joined as a judicial member on October 18, 2021, and was later assigned the additional charge of acting president on March 17.

The petitioner had earlier withdrawn a similar plea on April 1 to approach the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT). However, after the CAT declined to entertain the matter citing lack of jurisdiction, he returned to the high court with the present petition.

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In its earlier response, the Centre had defended Das’s appointment, stating that it followed the established convention of entrusting the role of acting president to the senior-most judicial member of the tribunal.