Govt to set up NCLAT bench in Chennai to cut down on backlog: Minister

The Government of India has decided to set up a bench of National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) at Chennai as part of its efforts to reduce the pending cases. It has also set up five new benches of NCLT during 2018-2019 at Jaipur, Cuttack, Kochi, Indore and Amaravati, with this aim.

The development comes in pursuance to a judgement of Supreme Court, said Anurag Singh Thakur, Union Minister for State for Finance and Corporate Affairs, in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

Benches of National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) are set up in various states depending on the case load and other relevant factors. Considering the heavy case load at some existing benches, additional members have been appointed and additional courts have been operationalised from time to time.

The Minister further stated that the Government is taking all steps to strengthen NCLT and NCLAT in terms of number of benches, number of courts and number of members, to reduce the pendency. 

The Government recently appointed 28 more members in NCLT and four more in NCLAT. For capacity building of members, regular colloquiums are being held. The e-Court project has also been implemented in a few benches with heavy case load.