Cases withdrawn from Chandigarh Bench after heated exchange between Judicial and Technical members goes viral

The NCLT President withdraws all cases from Chandigarh Bench Court 2 after a heated exchange between judicial and technical members goes viral.

Following the widely distributed video of a heated confrontation between a judicial and a technical member of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in Chandigarh, the President of the Tribunal has pulled all cases from that bench and transferred them to another bench.

The Registrar of the Tribunal notified the parties of the development in an order dated February 3.

It adds that the proceedings for all pending cases on the bench have been shifted to the other bench of the Tribunal. However, the bench has been asked to issue orders in reserved instances as soon as possible.

A three-minute dispute between Member (Judicial) Dr Patibandla Satyanarayana Prasad and Member (Technical) Umesh Kumar Shukla was captured on a viral video during a hearing in January.

Prasad, a former legal consultant to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), was seen severely informing Shukla that he is the court’s controller and advising him to improve his behaviour.

Sources said that this was not an unusual episode and that the technical member had previously disagreed with the judicial member in open court.

Additional perspectives from the legal community shed light on the underlying issues. Shukla, who had no prior judicial experience, struggled to adjust to the bench.

A prominent lawyer from Chandigarh emphasised the importance of a distinct approach when on the bench, advising prudence and subtlety in questioning.

Furthermore, practical issues inside the NCLT’s Chandigarh Bench were highlighted, with only one operable courtroom despite having two courts. Court-1 sits in the morning, and Court-2 only starts at 2 p.m., resulting in time constraints and a demand for expedited case procedures.

To Read Order Download PDF Given Below: