3,507 corporate cases stuck in courts: Arun Jaitley

NEW DELHI: There are as many as 3,507 pending corporate litigations in the country, of which nearly 1,400 remain undecided for more than 10 years, Parliament was informed today.

There are 3,507 pending corporate litigations in courts, including cases pending with the Company Law Board (CLB), the Board for Industrial and Financial Restructuring (BIFR) and the Official Liquidator, Corporate Affairs Minister Arun Jaitley said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

Out of these cases, 586 are pending for more than 20 years, 1,390 for more than 10 years but less than 20 years and 1,531 for more than 5 years but less than 10 years.

State-wise, Andhra Pradesh has the highest number of pending corporate litigations at 685, followed by Gujarat (545) and West Bengal (441), respectively.

"In order to speed up the resolution of pending corporate litigations, the erstwhile Companies Act, 1956, has been replaced by the Companies Act, 2013, the provisions of which are being notified in a phased manner," he said.

Jaitley further added: "It is pertinent to mention that the new Act contains various statutory provisions like those for setting up of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), special courts for providing speedy trial of offences and the Mediation and Conciliation Panel."

In response to another query on the status of NCLT, he said it's likely to become functional in the next financial year.

"The ministry has advertised 18 posts of judicial members and 10 posts of technical members of NCLT and 2 posts of technical members of National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) and the process of selection of these members is under way," he said, adding that "these bodies are likely to become functional in the next financial year".