Early Times Report
Jammu, July 8: The government has extended the tenure of National Company Law Appellate Tribunal’s (NCLAT) acting chairperson Justice B L Bhat for the next three months.
Justice Bhat’s three-month tenure as “officiating Chairman” was scheduled to end on June 15.
In a notification on July 6, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs said: “In continuation of this ministry’s notification dated March 12, 2020, the term of office of Justice B L B, Member (Judicial) as officiating Chairperson, NCLAT, is further extended for a period of three months with effect from June 15, 2020, or until a regular Chairperson is appointed or until further orders, whichever is the earliest.”
Justice Bhat was appointed as officiating Chairman of the appellate tribunal after its last Chairman Justice S J Mukhopadhaya was superannuated on March 15, 2020.
Presently, NCLAT is closed and has suspended all court works, including the virtual hearing of cases and filing till July 10 due to sealing of its premises after finding one of its staff COVID-19 positive.
Like other judicial/quasi-judicial bodies, the NCLAT was conducting virtual hearing of urgent matters through video conferencing during the lockdown.
Justice Bhat, a former Judge of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court had joined NCLAT as a judicial member on October 17, 2017.
Prior to this he was a judicial member of the Armed Forces Tribunal and had presided over benches at Chandigarh, Shimla, Jaipur and Delhi.
NCLAT was constituted under Section 410 of the Companies Act, 2013 for hearing appeals against the orders of National Company Law Tribunal. |
