NCLT must provide certified copies of orders to aggrieved third parties for filing appeal: NCLAT

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), Chennai recently clarified that persons aggrieved by an order of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) are entitled to obtain a certified copy of the order for the purpose of filing an appeal, even if they were not a party to the NCLT proceedings [SA Jhan Mohammed v. Ashish Vyas].The observations were made by an NCLAT Bench of judicial member, Justice N Seshasayee and technical member, Jatindranath Swain.The NCLAT observed that a person aggrieved by an order of the NCLT is entitled to challenge it under the appellate rules, regardless of whether they were a party to the original proceedings.Such an appellant is required to produce a certified copy of the order under challenge before the NCLAT while filing the appeal. In such scenarios, the NCLT Registry cannot deny a certified copy of the NCLT order even to a third party, the NCLAT said. “Where a person feels aggrieved by an order of the learned NCLT, irrespective of whether such person is a party to the proceedings or a third party, inasmuch, as such a person is entitled to appeal against the said order under the NCLAT Rules, he is required to file his appeal along with the certified copy of the order under challenge. Therefore, it is imperative that certified copies should be issued even to those third parties who might not be a party to the proceedings before the Learned NCLT," said the appellate tribunal. .The order was passed after an appellant before the NCLAT sought an exemption from having to file a certified copy of the NCLT order that he was challenging before the appellate tribunal. The appellant explained that his request for a certified copy of the order had been rejected by the registry of the NCLT on the ground that he was not a party to the proceedings before the tribunal.The tribunal disapproved of this approach adopted by the NCLT Registry, and ordered it to provide the certified copy of the NCLT order sought by the appellant. “We don’t approve this approach of the concerned NCLT, and it is now required to issue a certified copy of the order now under challenge to the appellant,” the February 27 order said. .It further directed the appellant to file the certified copy of the order being challenged once it is obtained from the NCLT registry.The matter will be taken up for further orders on April 8..Advocate Akhil Akbar Ali appeared for the appellant..[Read Order].Follow Bar and Bench channel on WhatsAppDownload the Bar and Bench Mobile app for instant access to the latest legal news.