The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) in Chennai has strongly advised lawyers against overloading the tribunal with voluminous, insignificant documents.
In an order from last month, judicial member Justice Sharad Kumar Sharma highlighted a troubling trend where lawyers submit extensive records and citations that contribute little to the case at hand. This practice not only clutters the tribunal’s records but also inflates the expenses for litigants, casting a shadow on professional ethics.
Justice Sharma’s order states, “It has become a quite common feature of the proceedings which are being instituted before the NCLAT, that voluminous records running in several volumes are being filed, including the citations of very little value addition while unnecessarily burdening the record section of the Tribunal, as well as, the coffers of the litigant.”
The NCLAT’s remarks came during the hearing of a company appeal by A Vijayan, challenging an order from the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) Chennai. The NCLT had ruled that all related company petitions be heard together to avoid conflicting judgments. Justice Sharma dismissed Vijayan’s appeal, noting that the NCLT’s order did not impinge on the rights of any parties involved, thus falling outside the appellate jurisdiction’s scope.
The NCLAT underscored that the appeal itself was unwarranted, pointing out that the case’s records spanned seven volumes and 1,312 pages. Justice Sharma criticized this approach, stating, “On this simple count and argument itself, the learned counsel for the Appellant has burdened the litigant to this appeal with the preparation of 7 volumes of documents running to 1312 pages, for no good purpose or valid reason. It is against basic professional ethics.”
In the proceedings, K Gaurav Kumar, Practicing Company Secretary, represented the appellant A Vijayan. Senior Advocate PH Arvindh Pandian, along with advocates Pawan Jhabakh, Jerin Asher Sojan, and Ujjwal Jain, appeared for the respondents.
