In Company Appeal 420 of 2023- NCLAT- Litigant has no right to ask NCLAT Member to recuse himself as giving such right would lead to disastrous results vis-a-vis Rule 63 of NCLT Rules, 2016: NCLAT
Judge Ashok Bhushan and Chairperson Naresh Salecha [19-05-2023]

Read Order: Ishrat Ali v Cosmos Cooperative Bank Limited

Simran Singh

New Delhi, May 23, 2023: In a Company Appeal, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal affirmed the order of the Principal Bench which had rejected the Transfer Application filed by the appellant stating that litigant had no right to ask the Member to recuse himself from the hearing.

In the matter at hand, the appellant questioned the order dated 09-12-2022 wherein the transfer application filed by the appellant before the Principal Bench of National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) was rejected. The appellant in its transfer application had sought recusal of the member who did not recuse from the proceedings. The Principle Bench had stated that the said ground could not be accepted for transferring a proceeding from NCLT Mumbai.

The Bench navigated through Rule 62 of the NCLT Rules, 2016 which dealt with the recusal which could be utilised by Members and President to recuse themselves from hearing a proceeding if conditions or factors as mentioned in sub-clauses (a), (b) and (c) were fulfilled.

“62. Recusal.-

(1) For the purpose of maintaining the high standards and integrity of the Tribunal, the President or a Member of the Tribunal shall recuse himself: –

(a)in any cases involving persons with whom the President or the Member has or had a personal, familial or professional relationship;

(b)in any cases concerning which the President or the Member has previously been called upon in another capacity, including as advisor, representative, expert or witness; or

(c) if there exists other circumstances such as to make the President or the Member’s participation seem inappropriate.

(2) The President or any Member recusing himself may record reasons for recusal:Provided that no party to the proceedings or any other person shall have a right to know the reasons for recusal by the President or the Member in the case.”

It was thus stated that the litigant had no right to ask the Member to recuse himself and giving such right to litigant would lead to disastrous and unwelcome results.