NCLT cancels summer vacation this year, to hear cases

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has cancelled the scheduled summer vacation for all its benches across the country this year.

In a notification, issued by the registrar on May 5, NCLT said it has cancelled summer vacation for this year and all benches of NCLT will function during the said period.

The Delhi-based principal bench was scheduled to go on summer vacation in the month of June.

"President, National Company Law Tribunal is pleased to order that summer vacations falling in the months of May/June/July 2020 as shown in the calendar of the respective NCLT benches stand cancelled and all benches of NCLT shall function during the said period," it said.

Several judicial bodies and quasi-judicial bodies have also cancelled their summer vacations as they were closed during the lockdown and were disposing only urgent matters through video conferencing.

Recently, NCLT had transferred its eight members to different benches spread across India with "immediate effect".

Presently, hearing in all NCLT benches across India is closed following the lockdown declared by the government to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. It hears only urgent matters through video conferencing.

Last month, the government had extended the tenure of the Acting President of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT)BSV Prakash Kumar for another three months.

NCLT was set up under section 408 of the Companies Act, 2013 on June 1, 2016.

Besides a Principal Bench at New Delhi, it has 14 other benches across India in cities which includes Ahmadabad, Allahabad, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Chennai, Guahati, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Cuttack, Jaipur, Kochi, Amravati,and Indore.