Prematurely retd NCLAT head to stay till Sept 20: Govt

The row over premature retirement of former NCLAT Chairperson Justice Ashok Iqbal Singh Cheema ended in the Supreme Court on Thursday as the Centre conceded and permitted him to continue in office till September 20 to pronounce verdicts, following the warning that the new law on tribunals would be stayed suo motu.

The hearing over the premature superannuation of Justice Cheema once reached a point when the bench headed by Chief Justice NV Ramana warned the Centre that the it would exercise its suo motu power to stay the Tribunals Reforms Act, 2021, which was referred to by Attorney General KK Venugopal as empowering statute to retire the NCLAT head. Justice Cheema, the former Chairperson of National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), was to superannuate on September 20, but Justice M Venugopal was appointed as the acting head of the tribunal with effect from September 11, creating a peculiar situation where the former approached the top court.

However, later KK Venugopal, on instruction from the Centre, apprised the bench, also comprising justices Surya

Kant and Hima Kohli, of the changed stand of the government leading to the closure of the row. “I have taken instructions.

It was said he (Cheema) took leave to write judgments. So we have decided that he will be allowed to go to office and pronounce judgments, the current chairperson Justice Venugopal will be sent on leave. In its order, the top court noted the concession made by the Centre and said, AG fairly states that respondent No 1 Union of India has no objection in accepting the prayer `C’ made by the petitioner in the present writ petition and to allow the petitioner to work up to September 20, 2021.