Ex-NCLAT chairperson moves SC challenging reduction of his tenure New Delhi,'

Former Chairperson of National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) Justice (Retd.) Ashok Iqbal Singh Cheema has moved the Supreme Court challenging reduction of his tenure.

The matter is scheduled to be heard on Thursday by a bench comprising Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli.

Cheema in his plea termed the order reducing his tenure as arbitrary.

Earlier in the day, the apex court had expressed displeasure over the ''hurried'' appointment of Justice M Venugopal as Acting Chairperson of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT).

The top court was critical of the fact that Cheema, who was due to superannuate on September 20, was replaced by Justice Venugopal in a hurried manner.

A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana said it would take up the matter on Thursday and asked Attorney General K K Venugopal to take instructions on the issue.

''In advance, telling you (AG) to appear tomorrow, it's regarding premature retirement of Justice Cheema as NCLAT Chairman. It appears he has been replaced. It says that 10 days before his retirement Mr Cheema, NCLAT chairman, hurriedly Mr Venugopal was appointed. Don't know how this is happening,'' said the bench also comprising Justices D Y Chandrachud and L Nageswara Rao.

Justice M Venugopal has been appointed as the Acting Chairperson of the NCLAT, as the key appellate tribunal continues to be without a permanent head now for more than 18 months.

Justice Venugopal has been appointed from September 11, 2021.

He is a former judge of the High Court of Madras. He had joined as a Sub-Judge in Tamil Nadu State Judicial Service on June 5, 1997 and later was elevated to high court in November 2007, where he had served for eleven-and-a-half years.

Justice Venugopal was appointed as a Judicial Member of the NCLAT on October 23, 2019 and was moved to the Chennai bench of the appellate tribunal on January 16, 2021.

Justice S J Mukhopadhaya, who was the full-time Chairperson, retired on March 14, 2020 after serving as Chairperson of the appellate body for almost four years.

Last week, the apex court had raised concerns, saying the Centre was ''emasculating'' tribunals by not appointing officials to the quasi-judicial bodies that are facing staff crunch.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)