A hard task master: NCLAT chairman ruffles many feathers, yet again

Expect the unexpected when waiting for retired Justice Sudhanshu Jyoti Mukhopadhaya currently chairman of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), to deliver a judgment.

He is best known for his 2013 order that recriminalised homosexuality by upholding the British-era Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. The judgment was later overturned by Chief Justice Dipak Misra. 

Mukhopadhyaya’s latest ruling restoring Cyrus Mistry as Tata Sons chairman came as a rude shock to the salt-to-software behemoth.

In his post-retirement stint as NCLAT chairperson, the 69-year-old has ruffled many feathers with his judgments in matters related to the insolvency and bankruptcy code.

On July 4, he created a stir in the NCLAT with his ruling in the Essar Steel case that financial and operational creditors of a company undergoing the corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) have equal rights. The judgment appears to contradict basic commercial logic.

The government had to move fast to issue clarifications and amendments to the code, weeks before the Supreme Court overturned the NCLAT ruling. 

“If it is a wrong judgment, then what is the need to amend the law,” the NCLAT chairman had said.

Mukhopadhyaya is a hard task master, unfazed at his rulings being overturned. True to his style, Mukhopadhyaya said, “I am a judge and when I talk about a case, there is no sentiment.”

Over a year ago, surprised how Bhushan Steel had managed a hearing within a day of filing the application, he reprimanded his staff, suspecting they had taken a bribe and instead allotted a much later date.

He worked at the Patna and Ranchi Benches of the Patna High Court, starting 1979.

Fourteen years later, he was designated a senior advocate by the Patna High Court, where he continued to practice in constitutional, service, civil and criminal matters.

Having served as acting Chief Justice in the Jharkhand and Madras high courts at various times, he was appointed Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court in 2009.

In 2011, he was elevated to the Supreme Court, where he presided till his retirement in 2015.

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