SC expunges remarks made against 3 members of NCLAT
Feb 19, 2021
New Delhi [India], February 19 : The Supreme Court on Friday expunged the alleged adverse remarks made by a five-member bench of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) against a sitting three-member bench.
A Bench headed by Justice Rohinton Nariman hearing the case expunged the alleged "personal and unsavory" remarks made by a five-member bench led by the acting chairperson, Justice Bansi Lal Bhat against a three-member bench of Justice (Retd) Jarat Kumar Jain, Bavinder Singh, and Vijai Pratap Singh.
"We have gone through the case. We are with you. Observations made against members of the tribunal stands expunged from the record," Justice Nariman said even before the hearing could proceed.
The three-member bench had referred a matter to the larger five-member bench of the NCLAT, which while deciding the matter made remarks against three members.
Aggrieved by the remarks made by the five-member bench, three members had approached the top court.
They moved the apex court taking exception to the comments made by the five-member bench in the judgment that the three-member bench in their referral judgment adopted "cut paste methodology" and embarked on a "painful misadventure" to refer the matter to the five-member Bench.
The three members have urged the apex court to expunge the "unsavory and disparaging remarks" made against them. They said the larger bench crossed both limits of its jurisdiction and has made unsavory and most disparaging comments which tend to be personal in nature against the referral bench.
The issue which was referred to the five-member bench was related to the entry of book of accounts of a company and acknowledgment of the debt by the company.
