TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (8) TMI 415
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....dhury, Mr. Arkadeb Sinha, Mr. Rishav Banerjee,Mr. Aman Kataruka, Mr. Amandeep Singh and Mr. Riyanshu Agarwal For the Respondents : Mr. Dhiraj Trivedi and Mr. Avinash Kankani ORDER Rajarshi Bharadwaj, J.: 1. By this appeal, the correctness of the judgement of the learned Single Judge dated 25.03.2025 passed in W.P.A. No 4927 of 2025 (NCLT Advocates Bar Association, Kolkata bench & Ors v. Union of India Ors) has been questioned by the appellant herein, who were the petitioners in the writ petition. 2. The genesis of the dispute lies in the alleged denial of basic facilities to the members of the National Company Law Tribunal (hereinafter referred to as 'NCLT') Advocates Bar Association at the Kolkata Bench. The appellant/petiti....
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....e proposal seeks to house the Tribunal alongside various executive offices under the MCA, including the Regional Director, Registrar of Companies, Official Liquidator and Serious Fraud Investigation Office. Such a move undermines the fundamental doctrine of separation of powers and the independence of the judiciary, thereby defeating the constitutional mandate laid down in Article 50 of the Constitution of India. 5. The Learned Single Judge erred in ignoring the constitutional mandate and binding precedents, particularly the landmark judgment in Union of India v. Madras Bar Association reported in (2010) 11 SCC 1, where the Hon'ble Supreme Court categorically held that Tribunals must function independently and remain free from executive ....
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.... litigants, which cannot constitute legal injury or locus standi to maintain the writ petition. 9. The writ petition, in substance, seeks to indirectly assert a public interest, which is impermissible in the guise of a personal writ. Furthermore, the location and functioning of a tribunal fall within the domain of policy decisions of the executive and are not subject to judicial review unless shown to be arbitrary or malafide, which is not the case here. 10. It is further submitted that the petition is inherently malafide and suffers from internal contradictions. While the prayer seeks continued functioning of the NCLT from its present premises under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, the appellants simultaneously argue that all tribu....
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....is the independence of judicial thought..." 13. Judicial independence includes, inter alia, the discipline to refrain from intruding into spheres explicitly reserved for the executive and legislature. The Court is conscious of the doctrine of separation of powers, which has been firmly upheld by the Hon'ble Apex Court in several decisions. As observed in Madras Bar Association (supra): "The constitution of the National Company Law Tribunal and transferring the entire company jurisdiction of the High Court to the Tribunal which is not under the control of the judiciary, is violative of the doctrine of separation of powers and independence of the judiciary which are parts of the basic structure of the Constitution." 14. In the ....
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....ntary body and as such, does not possess a statutory right to demand specific infrastructural arrangements. While the grievances may be genuine and representations to the appropriate authorities for redressal are certainly permissible, this Court cannot issue directions that would, in effect, amount to micro-managing policy decisions. The respondent-authority, in relocating the tribunal, appears to have acted in the interest of efficiency and functionality and there is no material on record to indicate any mala fides or arbitrariness in such decision-making. 17. This Court, therefore, deems it appropriate to exercise judicial restraint and abstains from issuing any directive that would interfere with the executive's domain. If the co....