CHENNAI: Hitting out at the National Company Law Tribunal, Bengaluru Bench, for not pronouncing an order, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal said if an order or judgment of a ‘Tribunal’ is not pronounced at all, it is a nullity in the ‘eye of law’.
The bench of Justice M Venugopal, member judicial and Kanthi Narahari, member technical observed that ‘Pronouncement of Order’ is quite distinct from communicating/informing/intimating a deliverance of an order. “At any cost, ‘Tribunal’ cannot dispense with justice. In reality, it must discharge its duties/function with a sole aim and purpose of ‘Dispensing Justice’,” the Bench observed.
Ergomaxx (India) Private Limited has filed a insolvency against Bengaluru based Krueger International Furniture Systems Private Limited for failing to pay the invoice amount worth Rs 50.67 for supplying furniture and allied products. The Bengaluru bench of NCLT dismissed the petition and did not inform such dismissal by means of any pronouncement of order. Since, the order was not reserved or pronounced, Ergomax never knew such an order is in existence and could find it only after going through the website.
K Gaurav Kumar, (Practising Company Secretary) appearing for Chennai-based Ergomaxx (India) Private Limited submitted that the ‘Impugned Order’ dated December 7, 2020, was neither pronounced nor listed and the same was adjourned to December 11, 2020. Kumar stated that ‘Pronouncement of Order’ by the ‘Tribunal’ is a mandatory one as per Rule 150 and 151 of the National Company Law Tribunal Rules, 2016.
Ergomaxx counsel submitted that there was no communication of the ‘Impugned Order’ through any of the mode prescribed under the NCLT Rules, 2016. The Tribunal observed that ‘Pronouncement of Order’ is quite distinct from communicating/informing/intimating a deliverance of an order.