PROCEDURE FOR INSTITUTION OF PROCEEDINGS, PETITIONS, APPEALS ETC., BEFORE NATIONAL COMPANY LAW TRIBUNAL

[Mr. M. GOVINDARAJAN]

Part III of the National Company Law Tribunal Rules, 2016 (‘Rules’ for short) provides the procedure for institution of proceedings, petition, appeals etc., before the National Company Law Tribunal (‘NCLT’ for short).

Rule 20 provides that-

• Every appeal or petition or application or caveat petition or objection or counter present to the Tribunal shall be in English;
• In case it is in some other Indian language, it shall be accompanied by a copy translated in English;
• The appeal etc., shall be legibly typewritten, lithographed or printed in double spacing on one side of standard petition paper with an inner margin of about four centimeter widh on top and with a right margin of 2.5 c.m., and left margin of 5 cms, duly paginated, indexed and stitched together in paper book form;
• The cause title shall state ‘Before the National Company Law Tribunal’ and shall specify the Bench to which it is presented and also set out the proceedings or order of the authority against which it is preferred;
• The petition etc., shall be divided into paragraphs and the paras shall be numbered consecutively; each para shall contain as nearly as may be, a separate fact or allegation or point;
• Where saka or other dates are used, corresponding dates of Gregorian Calendar shall also be given;
• The name, parentage, age, description of each party and address and in case a party sues or being sued in a representative character, shall also be set out at the beginning of the appeal or petition or application and need not be repeated in subsequent proceedings in the same appeal or petition or application;
• The names of parties shall be numbered consecutively; a separate line should be allotted to the name and description of each party;
• The numbers shall not be changed; in the event of the death of a party during the pendency of the appeal or petition or matter, his legal heirs or representative, if more than one shall be shown by sub-numbers;
• Where fresh parties are brought in, they may be numbered consecutively in the particular category, in which they are brought in;
• Every proceeding shall state immediately after the cause title the provision of law under which it is preferred.

Address for service

Rule 21 provides that the address for service of summons shall be filed with every appeal or petition or application on behalf of a party.  The service of summons shall as far as possible contain the following items-

• The name of the road, street, lane and municipal division or ward, municipal door and other number of the house;
• The name of the town or village;
• The post office, postal district and PIN code; and
• Any other particulars necessary to locate and identify the addressee such as fax number, mobile number, valid e-mail address, if any.

Corrections

Rule 22 provides that every interlineations, eraser or correction or deletion in any appeal or petition or application or document shall be initialed by the party or his authorized representative presenting it.

Presentation of petition

Rule 23 provides that-

• Every petition, application, caveat, interlocutory application, documents and appeal shall be presented in triplicate by the appellant or applicant or petitioner or respondent in person or by his duly authorized representative or by an Advocate duly appointed in this behalf in the prescribed form with stipulated fee at the filing counter;
• Non compliance of the above may constitute a valid ground to refuse to entertain the same;
• Every petition, application or appeal may be accompanied by documents duly certified by the authorized representative or Advocate filing the petition etc.,duly verified from the originals;
• All the documents shall be accompanied by an index in triplicate containing their details and the amount of fee paid thereon;
• Sufficient number of copies of the appeal or petition or application shall also be filed for service on the opposite party as prescribed;
• The processing fee with required number of envelopes of sufficient size and notice forms shall be filed along with memorandum of appeal.

Rule 26 provides that at the foot of every petition or appeal or pleading there shall appear the name and signature of the authorized representative.  Every petition shall be signed and verified by the party concerned.

Translation of document

Rule 27 provides that a document other than English language shall be accompanied by a copy in English certified by both parties to be a true translated copy by authorized representative or prepared by a translator approved for the purpose by the Registrar on payment of such charges as he may order.  Appeal or petition or other proceeding shall not be set down for hearing until and unless all parties confirm that all the documents filed on which they intend to rely are in English or have been translated into English and required number of copies are filed into Tribunal.

Endorsement and scrutiny

Rule 28 provides that the person in charge of the filing counter shall immediately on receipt of petition or appeal or application or document affix the date stamp of Tribunal on the same and also on the additional copies of the index and return the acknowledgement to the party.  He shall also affix his initials on the stamp affixed on the first page of the copies and enter the particulars of all such documents in the register daily filing and assign a diary number which shall be entered below the date stamp and thereafter cause it to be sent for scrutiny.

If it is found on scrutiny the appeal or petition or application or document is found to be defective, such document shall after notice to the party be returned for compliance.   If there is a failure to comply within 7 days from the date of return, the same shall be placed before the Registrar who may pass appropriate orders.  The Registrar may return the said document for rectification or amendment to the party filing the same.   He may allow the party reasonable time for compliance.  If the party fails to take any step for the removal of the defect within the time fixed for the same, the Registrar may, decline to register the pleading or document after recording the reasons for the same.

Numbering of the case

Rule 29 provides that on admission of appeal or petition or application, the same shall be numbered and registered in the appropriate register and its number shall be entered therein.

Calling for records

Rule 30 provides that on the admission of appeal or petition or application, the Registrar shall, if so directed by the Tribunal, call for the records relating to the proceedings from any adjudicating authority and retransmit the same.

Production of authorization

Rule 31 provides that where an appeal or application or petition or other proceeding purported to be instituted by or on behalf of an association, the person or persons who sign or verifies the same shall produce along with such application, for verification by the Registry, a true copy of the resolution of the association empowering such person(s) to do so.  The Registrar may at any time call upon the party to produce such further materials as he deems fit for satisfying himself about due authorization.   It shall set out the list of members for whose benefit the proceedings are instituted.

Interlocutory applications

Rule 32 provides that every interlocutory application for stay, direction, condonation of delay, exemption from production of copy of order appealed against or extension of time prayed for in pending matters shall be in prescribed form and the requirements prescribed in that behalf shall be complied with by the applicant, besides filing an affidavit supporting the application.

Damaged documents

Rule 33 provides that when a document produced along with any pleading appears to be defaced, torn or in any way damaged or otherwise its condition or appearance requires special notice, a mention regarding its condition and appearance shall be made by the party producing the same in the index of such a pleading and the same shall be verified and initialed by the officer authorized to receive the same.

Caveat petition

Rule 25 provides that any person may lodge a caveat in triplicate in any appeal or petition or application that may be instituted before the Tribunal by paying the prescribed fee after forwarding a copy by registered post or serving the same on the expected petitioner or appellant and the caveat shall be in the form prescribed and contain such details and particulars or orders or directions, details of authority against whose orders or directions the appeal or petition or application is being instituted by the expected appellant or petitioner or applicant which full address for service on other side, so that the appeal or petition or application could be served before the appeal or petition or interim application is taken up.

The Tribunal may pass interim orders in case of urgency.  The caveat shall remain valid for a period of 90 days from the date of its filing.