Supreme Court urges government to fix NCLT member gaps and infrastructure

During a Monday hearing, the Supreme Court expressed alarm over the lack of judges, technical members and basic facilities at the National Company Law Tribunal and its appellate counterpart, noting their growing importance to the economy. The bench, comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana, heard arguments from senior advocate Sanjiv Sen of the NCLT Principal Bench Bar Association, who described the tribunal’s condition as "in shambles" and said half-day sittings are now the norm.

Despite a sanctioned strength of 63 members, vacancies persist and up to 18 more could arise as incumbents retire. The Court ordered the bar association to tabulate infrastructure details for all regional benches and asked the Union government to file a status report, consulting the NCLT President to identify urgent upgrades. The matter will be revisited in two weeks.