The government has nominated 21 members to the benches that hear cases involving insolvency and company law in one of the largest rounds of appointments to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).
The appointments are intended to ensure that the number of members across benches will be close to 60, against the sanctioned strength of 63, which many say is well below the requirement. However, at least one of the candidates chosen is unlikely to join. The government is, however, keen that the vacancies remain as low as possible. The ministry of corporate affairs is closely coordinating with NCLT and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) to smoothen the implementation of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. Sources said that the ministry is planning to begin the process of appointing another set of members by August or September. A shortage of members in the tribunal is seen as one of the factors for delay in decisions under the IBC, which prescribes that insolvency cases should be decided within 270 days at the most.
Till the end of March, over 6,500 cases had been filed under IBC, and there had been closure in around 4,500 cases but 2,053 cases were ongoing, according to IBBI data. While the number of resolutions rose to an all-time high of 180 during the last financial year, the average time taken was high.