Corporate affairs ministry ‘hijacks’ staff appointments in NCLT: Supreme Court
National Court of Company Law. Photo file. Credit
The Supreme Court of India on Thursday (Oct 29, 2026) verbally expressed concern that the Ministry of Corporate Affairs had “stolen” the appointment of staff in the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said that the power to appoint employees must remain with the President of the NCLT and employer-employee relationship must prevail between the employees and the tribunal.
Senior advocate Meenakshi Arora said the process of appointing staff was outsourced.
“I know how the contractors are playing their own game. They are not interested in judicial/technical members. Total autonomy must be with the presidents. They can take over UPSC/SSC. The tribunal has been completely hijacked by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. This is eroding the autonomy of the institution. This is a problem. The Ministry wants to have complete control. This is very unfortunate or unfortunate,” the justice chief said.
The observations were made while hearing the plea of ​​contractual employees working in the NCLT and the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT).
The court ordered the chairmen of the two tribunals to submit within four weeks comprehensive proposals for the infrastructure, buildings and staffing needed to strengthen the day-to-day functioning of the institutions.
The directions came after the court was informed that the infrastructure at the NCLT Principal Bench was “collapsing”, with two floors closed and courts operating at half capacity.
The court had earlier directed the Center to identify the infrastructural facilities urgently required by the National Company Law Tribunal in consultation with the NCLT President.
Since the courts were the lifeline of the government, the NCLT also directed the Principal Bench Bar Association to collect the infrastructure data of all the regional benches in tabular format.
Published – 29 Oct 2026 15:10 IST