'Prima Facie No Justification': High Court On NCLT Principal Bench 'Joint Scrutiny' Order For Allahabad Filings

In the matter regarding scrutiny of petitions/ applications filed at the National Company Law Tribunal, Allahabad by the Principal Bench at New Delhi, the Allahabad High Court has observed that since there were no defects pending for scrutiny, prima facie, there was no reason for passing of the 'joint scrutiny' order by the Delhi bench.

Perusing the instructions provided by the Additional Solicitor General of India, the bench of Justice Ajit Kumar and Justice Swarupama Chaturvedi observed thus:

"We further notice that the order impugned came to be passed on 27.02.2026, whereas in the month of February, 2026, as per the chart dated 23.02.2026, there was no pendency of petitions under scrutiny at NCLT, Allahabad. We further notice that in the chart appended on 02.03.2026 again there was no pendency at NCLT, Allahabad. Thus, prima facie we are convinced that there was no justification for the Registrar of the Principle Bench of the National Company Law Tribunal, Delhi for passing the order impugned".

For context, the Registrar of the National Company Law Tribunal, New Delhi, had passed an order dated 27.02.2026 directing the scrutiny of the matters filed before the National Company Law Tribunal, Allahabad Bench, to be conducted jointly by the National Company Law Tribunal, Principal Bench, New Delhi and the National Company Law Tribunal, Allahabad Bench.

Aggrieved by this order and the defects not being cleared by the Registry of the Principal Bench, the Company Law Tribunal Bar Association approached the High Court, challenging the order.

Hearing the parties, the Court had sought instructions from the Union of India as to whether there were competent officers in the Registry of NCLT Allahabad to scrutinize the defects.

The Additional Solicitor General of India submitted his instructions to the Court, in which it was stated that adequate staff were available and that the joint scrutiny had only been directed to streamline the process. It was submitted that once an adequate number of assistant staff are available, scrutiny will be shifted back after the process is streamlined.

The Court also observed that

"We are also informed at the bar that a regular Deputy Registrar and an Assistant Registrar both were working on the date of the passing of the order and the scrutiny work was being done for the National Company Law Tribunal, Jaipur Bench working at Allahabad itself and hence there was no justification for passing such order. A Deputy Registrar and Assistant Registrar are working also at present".

Accordingly, the Court asked the ASGI to obtain further instructions. The case is directed to be listed for tomorrow (April 28).

Counsel for petitioner: Udai Chandani, Tanmay Sadh and Abhinav Gaur