The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) in Chennai has made it clear that access to justice cannot be stalled by procedural walls. In a recent ruling, the appellate tribunal said that anyone who claims to be affected by an order of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) must be allowed to obtain a certified copy of that order—even if they were never a party in the original proceedings.
The clarification came while hearing a case where a man seeking to challenge an NCLT order ran into an unexpected obstacle. When he approached the NCLT registry for a certified copy of the order, his request was rejected because he had not been part of the earlier proceedings.
The appellate tribunal took a dim view of that reasoning.
A Bench comprising Justice N. Seshasayee and technical member Jatindranath Swain pointed out that the right to appeal does not vanish simply because a person was not formally listed as a party before the NCLT. If an individual believes that an order affects their interests, the appellate framework allows them to challenge it.
But to file such an appeal before the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal, the rules require the appellant to submit a certified copy of the order being challenged. Denying access to that document, the tribunal noted, effectively blocks the appeal itself.
For that reason, the Bench stressed that the NCLT registry cannot refuse certified copies merely because the applicant was a third party to the proceedings. If a person claims to be aggrieved and intends to appeal, the document must be issued.
The direction came after the appellant requested exemption from filing a certified copy, explaining that the registry had declined his application for the document. The tribunal rejected the registry’s stance and instructed the concerned NCLT office to provide the certified copy of the order in question.
Once the document is obtained, the appellant has been directed to place it on record as part of the appeal.
The case is scheduled to be taken up again on April 8.
