Law Ministry against Appointment of ex-SC Judge Radhakrishnan as Chairman of National Company Law Appellate Tribunal

The Law Ministry has reportedly advised against the appointment of Justice K.S. Radhakrishnan as the first chairperson of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal, to be setup by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. The Tribunal is a statutory body under Companies Act, 2013. Accordingly, the Chairperson is prescribed to be a judge of the Supreme Court or the Chief Justice of a High Court.

The NCLAT would hear pleas against orders passed by the National Company Law Tribunal, which hasn’t been established yet. The NCLT would be deciding all matters earlier decided by the Company Law Board, Board for Industrial & Financial Reconstruction (BIFR), and winding up cases in various high courts.

The MCA had invited applications for the posts of judicial members in the NCLT a few months back. However, the process came to a halt due to a writ petition filed in the Supreme Court. To become a judicial member at NCLT, an individual is or should have been a High Court judge or district judge for at least five years or with a minimum of ten years experience as an advocate of a court. Meanwhile, among others, chartered accountants or cost accountants or company secretaries having at least 15 years of experience are eligible to be technical members.

Previous Chief Justice of India P. Sathasivam had put forward Justice Radhakrishnan’s name for the post, two months before his retirement.