To mitigate the hardship of small investors and to expedite disposal of cases pending before the Company Law Board the first ever “Lok Adalat” was successfully held at the Company Law Board, Mumbai Bench at Mumbai on 07-12-2013. The initiative to hold Lok Adalat in Company Law Board taken by Justice Shri D.R. Deshmukh, Chairman, Company Law Board was successfully implemented by the Member Shri A.K. Tripathi as their joint efforts saw the culmination of 203 matters under section 58A[9] of the Companies Act, 1956 in which various companies and investors gave their consent to the schedule proposed by the Bench for repayment of small deposits within time suggested by the Bench. In addition to above out of 81 applications listed, 61 applications for compounding of offences in respect of violations under the various provisions of the Companies Act, 1956 were decided on a consent given by the companies to deposit the composition fee proposed by the Bench. On such consent of the representatives of the Companies who had appeared before the Bench a sum of Rs.70,49,500/- was imposed as compounding fee which is expected to be deposited by the companies in compliance of the consent order passed by the Bench in the “Lok Adalat”. In three matters under sections 397 and 398 of the Companies Act, 1956 efforts were made by the Bench to assist the parties to iron out their differences and to reach a settlement and much headway was made.

Lok Adalat was attended by Members of the Bar, Company Secretaries and Chartered Accountants. Shri Ajay Kumar, Practicing Company Secretary and Shri V.P. Verma, Advocate rendered valuable assistance as Co-ordinator at the Lok Adalat. The next Lok Adalat at Mumbai is proposed to be held in February 2014.

Lok Adalat in company law expedites settlements and compounding by consent, enabling repayment schedules and composition fees. A Lok Adalat at the Company Law Board, Mumbai Bench used alternative dispute resolution to secure consensual repayment schedules for small deposit claims, resolving 203 matters, and concluded 61 of 81 compounding applications by obtaining companies' consent to deposit composition fees, while assisting parties to negotiate settlements in oppression and mismanagement disputes.