Supreme Court unhappy over "hurried" appointment of acting NCLAT Chairperson

The Supreme Court Wednesday expressed resentment over the "hurried" appointment of Justice M Venugopal as Acting Chairperson of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT). A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana said it would take up the matter on Thursday and asked Attorney General K K Venugopal to take instructions on the issue.

"I am in advance telling you (AG) to appear tomorrow, it's regarding premature retirement of Justice Cheema as NCLAT Chairman. It appears he has been replaced. It says that 10 days before his retirement Mr Cheema, NCLAT chairman, hurriedly Mr Venugopal was appointed. I don't know how this is happening," the bench also comprising Justices D Y Chandrachud and L Nageswara Rao said.

The Centre on Saturday approved the proposal for appointment of eight Judicial members and 10 Technical members in the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).


Justice M Venugopal has been appointed as the Acting Chairperson of the NCLAT, as the key appellate tribunal continues to be without a permanent head now for more than one-and-a-half years.

Last week, the apex court had raised concerns, saying the Centre was "emasculating" tribunals by not appointing officials to the quasi-judicial bodies that are facing staff crunch.