Union Minister for Finance Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday inaugurated the Chennai Bench of National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) through virtual mode here today.
As per a statement, the Chennai Bench of the NCLAT will have jurisdiction to hear appeals arising out of orders passed by the benches of the NCLT that have jurisdiction in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Lakshwadeep, and Puducherry.
Two Members of NCLAT, New Delhi, Balvinder Singh, Member (Technical), and Justice Venugopal M have taken charge of the newly constituted Chennai Bench of the NCLAT.
Justice Bansi Lal Bhat, Acting Chairperson of the NCLAT thanked the Finance Minister for inaugurating the Chennai Bench of the NCLAT and expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi who 'underscored the role of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 in providing freedom of exit to insolvent entities.'
"The Central Government has demonstrated a proactive approach by bringing successive amendments to the Code and that the Government is taking all steps to strengthen the NCLT in terms of a number of Benches and number of courts at heavily loaded benches," Justice Bhat said.
Five new Benches of the NCLT have been announced at Jaipur, Cuttack, Kochi, Indore and Amaravati, bringing the total number of Benches to 16 (including the Principal Bench). The NCLAT now functions at a strength of 5 courts, 4 at the Principal Bench in New Delhi and the fifth at NCLAT, Chennai.
While congratulating the citizens of the country, Sitaraman emphasised the significance of constituting another Bench of the NCLAT at Chennai.
"The Union Government's decision to set up a bench of the NCLAT at Chennai will give a major relief to the compes and litigants in the Southern States of India, who faced great difficulty in traveling to Delhi for work pertaining to filing and arguing of appeals in the NCLAT. This will reduce the pendency of cases, shorten the period of process and shall result in speedier disposal of the cases," Sitharaman said.
She added, "Along with the Hon'ble Supreme Court as the apex forum, the NCLAT and the NCLTs have done a commendable job in ironing out the issues faced in implementing the new law. It is heartening to note that these institutions have kept themselves technologically up to date."
( With inputs from ANI )
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