Complete disregard of our order: Delhi High Court on allocation of space in NCLT building to ministries

The Delhi High Court has directed maintenance of status quo with regard to the occupation or renovation of the space vacated by the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy in the building where the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) is located [NCLT Bar Association thr its Secretary General v. Union of India and Ors]. .A Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Navin Chawla recently passed the order while hearing a petition filed by the NCLT Bar Association. The petition had sought a direction to the authorities to improve the facilities at the NCLT and the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT). .On September 17, 2019, the High Court had taken note of the fact that the NCLT was operating on the sixth, seventh and eighth floors of the building in question, while other institutions were operating on the ground, first and second floors.The Court had then observed that rather than providing space measuring 11,860 square feet on the first floor of Block No. 12, CGO Complex, Lodhi Road, for setting up two additional benches of the NCLT, the space on the ground, first and second floors of the same building could be made available to the tribunal. Instead, the space in the CGO Complex could be allocated to other government departments, the Court had suggested.An affidavit was also filed by the Deputy Director of Estates in the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, disclosing that the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy was constructing its own building, which would be completed by October 2020. In this light, the first floor of building where the NCLT is currently housed would be vacated by December 2020, it was submitted. .However, Advocate Bharathi Raju, appearing for the Central government, told the Court on the last date of hearing that though the space in question has been vacated, it has been allocated to other Ministries. .The Court reacted strongly to this submission, stating that the action of the Director of Estates appears to be incomplete disregard of the order passed by it in 2019. It also observed that there appears to be absolutely no application of mind to the problems being faced by the advocates practicing in the NCLT or the litigants. "The authorities do not appear to have given due consideration to our order and no reasons have been placed before us, for not providing the vacated first floor for use by the NCLT in the same building and, instead, allotting the same to other departments," the order stated. The judges said that having different benches of the NCLT at different locations is bound to cause administrative difficulties as well."It goes without saying, that the entire institution should be housed at one place, if the institution which requires the assistance and coordination of the Bar, has to run efficiently.".The Bench further said that since the first floor of the building where the NCLT is housed became available with the vacation by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, that area should have been allotted to the NCLT in preference over any other Ministry. The area earlier allotted to NCLT measuring 11,860 square feet could have, instead, been allotted to the other Ministries. .The Court thus directed the Director of Estates to file a specific affidavit in this regard and listed the case for further hearing on May 4. .Senior Advocates P Nagesh and Jayant Mehta, along with Advocates Saurabh Kalial, Mahima Aggarwal, Shikhil Suri, Shivam Wadhwa, Rakesh Kumar and Lav Dhawan appeared for the NCLT Bar Association..[Read Order]