New Delhi

The Delhi High Court on Thursday disposed of a petition filed by a technical member of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) challenging the appointment of Bachu Venkat Balaram Das as its acting president, stating that the matter had become irrelevant after the Centre appointed a regular president to the tribunal.

A bench comprising Justices C Hari Shankar and O P Shukla noted that the government had approved the appointment of Justice Anupinder Singh Grewal, a former judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, as the NCLT president. In light of this development, the court observed that the petition concerning the acting president’s post no longer survived and accordingly closed the case filed by Kaushalendra Kumar Singh.

The Centre had issued a notification on April 29 confirming Justice Grewal’s appointment for a tenure of five years from the date he assumes office or until he reaches the age of 67, whichever comes earlier.

Before the court, Singh argued that existing legal provisions required the senior-most member of the tribunal—whether judicial or technical—to be appointed as acting president. He maintained that, based on his earlier appointment date, he held seniority over Das and should have been given the role.

Singh had initially approached the high court in March, asserting that after the previous president demitted office on March 16, he was the most senior member based on his date of joining. In the absence of specific rules governing inter se seniority among members, he contended that seniority should be determined by the date of appointment. Since Das joined the tribunal about two weeks after him, Singh claimed precedence.

According to the case details, Singh was appointed as a technical member on October 1, 2021, while Das became a judicial member on October 18, 2021, and was later assigned the role 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The petitioner had earlier withdrawn a similar plea on April 1 to approach the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT).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 jurisdiction in the matter, he filed the present petition before the high court.

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