Calcutta High Court Declines To Stay Shifting Of NCLT Premises, Says Lawyer's Inconvenience No Grounds To Interfere With Policy Decision

The Calcutta High Court has declined to interfere in the proposed shift of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) premises to Rajarhat, Kolkata, on the grounds raised by several advocates that it would be difficult for them to commute to the new location which was in the outskirts of the city.

A single bench of Justice Shampa Sarkar held:

It would not be proper for this Court to stay the notification by which the proposal to shift the NCLT, Kolkata to the new building at Rajarhat has been made. It is also true that the entire building is complete and on the first occasion itself, no interim protection was given to the petitioners. The order of Her Lordship clearly records that the petitioners, are learned Advocates, purportedly aggrieved because their profession would suffer.

This inconvenience of the lawyers cannot be a ground to interfere with a policy decision. The public does not appear to have been either inconvenienced or aggrieved by such a decision. Rather, in my, prima facie, view adequate infrastructure with modern facilities and a congenial working condition, is beneficial for all, it added.

The court was dealing with a plea by several lawyers who sought a stay on the notification which shifted the NCLT premises from an old heritage building near the High Court premises to a new, modern building in Rajarhat.

Earlier, the predecessor judge had also denied the plea raised by the advocates.

The Court observed that Rule 8 of the NCLT Rules has been relied upon to urge that the Tribunal had complete autonomy to decide on its place of sitting. The present NCLT Bench which is working out of an old heritage building, had insufficient space and inadequate infrastructure.

The Central Public Works Department undertook the construction of the new building and the total project cost was Rs.132.65 crores. The present NCLT functions with two Benches, but additional Benches cannot be accommodated, due to the space crunch.

According to the affidavit, it was stated that the authority was of the opinion that the other departments/offices of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs in Kolkata, the Serious Fraud Investigating Office (SFIO), etc. should all be housed in one campus, for convenience.

Although there are six numbers of sanctioned posts for Members of the NCLT, the Tribunal has been forced to work with only two Benches due to the space crunch and lack of infrastructure.

The spaces for storage of records, cause papers and for other supporting infrastructure is scanty. It was a policy decision of the Central Government to shift the present NCLT, Kolkata Regional Bench to a new building, which has all the supporting infrastructure to house the Tribunal and its supporting offices and departments. At this juncture, interference with such policy decision would not be prudent. Moreover, NCLT is situated in a heritage building and the laws prevent any kind of infrastructural changes to such building. Construction, reconstruction, addition, alteration is not permissible, the Bench observed.

Court further clarified that in order to ensure that the advocates are not inconvenienced, they would be free to appear in the matters before the NCLT in virtual mode.

Case: NCLT Advocates Bar Association, Kolkata & Ors. Versus Union of India & Ors

Case No: W.P.A. No. 4927 of 2023

Click here to read order