Modi Government Intensifies Action Against NPA Mess, To Add More NCLT Benches In Coming Months

According to officials at the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, new benches of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) are expected to come up within the next few months. There is a pressing need for augmenting the strength of the NCLT as an estimated 9,000 cases are pending across the NCLT benches in the country. Out of these 9,000 pending cases, 5000 cases are pending in Mumbai and 2100 in New Delhi.

It is expected that three additional benches in Mumbai will be set up with New Delhi seeing the addition of two benches. Kolkata, Chennai and Hyderabad are also expected to see the addition of one bench each. It is being reported that the ministry is likely to initiate the process for recruiting more than 30 additional benches to man the additional benches.

It is expected that the number of NCLT courts would also see an increase from the current 11 to 24 as the plan is to have an equal number of NCLT and High Courts in the country. The NCLT was set up by the Central Government under Section 408 of the Companies Act, 2013 and matters pertaining to both companies law and insolvency and bankruptcy code are heard by them.