Institution of proceedings before NCLT

In this post, we discuss institution of proceedings before National Company Law Tribunal and National Company Law Appellate Tribunal.

Procedure of filing a petition etc.

Rule 20 of National Company Law Tribunal Rules, 2016 proscribe the procedure. Similar provision is in Rule 19 of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal Rules, 2016.

Language

According to rule 20(1), every appeal or petition or application or caveat petition or objection or counter presented 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.

No petition can be filed in any language other than English and other Indian language.

Paper and Print

According to rule 20(1), It shall be fairly and legibly type written, lithographed or printed in double spacing on one side of standard petition paper with an inner margin of about four centimeter width on top and with a right margin of 2.5. cm, and left margin of 5 cm, duly paginated, indexed and stitched together in paper book form.

In these rules, interesting requirement is Standard petition paper in line of the Supreme Court Rules, 1966. However, new Supreme Court Rules, 2013 has changed the requirement. Presently, Order XV of the Supreme Court Rules, 2013 says that every petition shall consist of paragraphs and pages numbered consecutively and shall be fairly and legibly type written, lithographed or printed on one side of standard A4 size paper, with quarter margin.

Cause title

According to rule 20(2), the cause title shall state “Before the National Company Law Tribunal” and shall specify the Bench to which it is presented.

The cause title shall also set out the proceedings or order of the authority against which it is preferred.

Provision of Law

According to rule 20(9), every proceeding shall state immediately after the cause title the provision of law under which it is preferred.

Description of Parties

According to rule 20(5), full 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.

These details need not be repeated in the subsequent proceedings in the same appeal or petition or application.

Numbering of Parties

According to rule 20(6), the names of parties shall be numbered consecutively and a separate line should be allotted to the name and description of each party.

Sub – numbers of Parties

According to rule 20(7), these numbers shall not be changed and in the event of the death of a party during the pendency of the appeal or petition or matter, his legal heirs or representative, as the case may be, if more than one shall be shown by sub-numbers.

Fresh Parties

According to rule 20(8), where fresh parties are brought in, they may be numbered consecutively in the particular category, in which they are brought in.

Paragraphs and numbers

According to rule 20(3), appeal or petition or application or counter or objections shall be divided into paragraphs and shall be numbered consecutively.

Each paragraph shall contain as nearly as may be, a separate fact or allegation or point.

Dates

According to rule 20(4), where Saka or other dates are used, corresponding dates of Gregorian Calendar shall also be given.

Initialling alteration

According to Rule 22 of NCLT Rules and rule 21 of NCLAT Rules, every interlineations, eraser or correction or deletion in any appeal or petition or application or document shall be initialed by the party or his authorised representative presenting it.

Endorsement and Verification

Rule 27 of NCLT Rules and Rule 24 of NCLAT Rules deals with endorsement and verification of petition or appeal or pleading.

Endorsement

According to rule 27(1), the name of authorized representative shall be written at the food of every every petition or appeal or pleading.

Authorised representative shall also sign the petition or appeal or pleading where the name is written.

Verification

According to rule 27(2), Every petition or appeal shall be signed and verified by the party concerned in the manner provided by NCLT or NCLAT Rules, as the case may be.

Production of authorisation

According to rule 31, 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 (s) or verify (ies) 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.

Proviso to rule 31 empower the Registrar to call upon at any time the party to produce such further materials as he deems fit for satisfying himself about due authorization.

Second proviso to rule 31 cast duty on registrar to set out the list of members for whose benefit the proceedings are instituted.

Please note: This blog post is not a professional advice but just a knowledge sharing initiative for mutual discussion.