NCLAT Principal bench to hear cases via physical mode from August

NEW DELHI: The Principal bench of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) will hear cases via physical mode alone from August 1, 2022.

A decision in this regard has been taken by the NCLAT Chairperson after “reviewing the COVID-19 pandemic situation and taking note of the declining trend in the positivity rate”, and has done partial modification of the standard operating procedure.

“The cases listed before Principal Bench, New Delhi only of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal from 1st August, 2022 shall be heard through Physical Hearing only,” a notice issued by NCLAT Registrar said.

Besides the New Delhibased Principal bench, NCLAT also has a bench in Chennai.

The notice has also put some riders and said entry into the Court Rooms, to attend physical hearings, shall stand restricted to only one advocate per party whose case is listed for hearing that day and whose ‘vakalatnama’ is on record or who has been duly authorised to appear.

Senior Counsel engaged by any such advocate would also be permitted.

Besides, registered clerks employed by advocates would also be allowed but only for the limited purpose of delivering heavy and bulky case files of such Advocates to the designated Court Room and shall leave courtrooms immediately.

In addition to that wearing of a mask, frequent use of hand sanitiser and maintaining physical distancing norms will be mandatory for all entrants into the NCLAT premises, including the Court Rooms, the notice said.

“In order to ensure strict adherence to the norm of social distancing, seats in each Court Room have been limited to bare minimum,” the NCLAT notice said, adding “Once the matter is over, Advocate shall immediately leave from the designated exit points.”

NCLAT like other judicial and quasi-judicial bodies had shifted to virtual hearing after the COVID-19 pandemic.

On June 1, 2020 NCLAT had issued a standard operating procedure for conducting virtual hearings of urgent matters.

The appellate tribunal had decided to hear all urgent matters through video conferencing only from June 1, and all works, including mention of urgent matters, would be done online.