A proposed law seeking to streamline the functioning of tribunals has suggested bringing the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) under a common system for appointments and oversight, while leaving the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) outside its purview. Tabled in the Lok Sabha on Monday, the Tribunals Reforms Bill, 2026 has proposed that NCLAT appointments be made through a search-cum-selection committee constituted by the proposed National Tribunals Commission (NTC) – taking the appellate tribunal out of the existing appointment framework under the Companies Act.
The draft Bill talks about amending Section 417A of the Companies Act to bring the qualifications, selection, appointment, salaries, removal and other service conditions of NCLAT’s chairperson and members under the proposed Tribunals Reforms Act.
As per the draft Bill, there’s going to be a five-member NTC, comprising of a chairperson, two judicial members and two technical members. This body will oversee appointments to tribunals specified in the Bill’s First Schedule, review their performance, oversee inquiries into complaints against members and develop a National Tribunals Data Grid.
While NCLAT is specifically included in the First Schedule with the Companies Act identified as its parent legislation, NCLT, on the other hand, does not figure in the 16 tribunals listed in the Schedule.
Experts Divided
Experts said the exclusion of NCLT reflects a deliberate attempt to introduce a new system rather than extend it immediately to all tribunals. “The trial level or entry level tribunals are kept out of it, perhaps at this stage, to test the enforceability and effectiveness of the new mechanism without risking foundational scheme of trial-level tribunals like NCLT, district consumer forums, which carry a high workload and are vested with overriding powers under their parent statute,” said Sourasubha Ghosh, partner at CMS Induslaw.
Though Vishwas Panjiar, managing partner at SVAS Business Advisors LLP said that the exclusion of NCLT sits awkwardly with the Supreme Court’s concerns over the independence of tribunal appointments. “NCLT and NCLAT are two tiers of the same adjudicatory structure, not two tribunals that merely happen to deal with the same subject. NCLT is where insolvency and company law matters are first decided, while NCLAT hears appeals from those orders. Bringing the appellate tier within the new independence framework while leaving the first-instance tier outside it is difficult to reconcile, particularly when the Bill itself speaks of uniformity and independence across tribunals,” he said.
In the past, the apex court has called for an independent NTC to supervise tribunal appointments and functioning amid concerns over ministry-level administrative dependency and chronic appointment delays.
Scope Covers 16 Key Tribunals
The proposed framework covers 16 tribunals and appellate bodies, including NCLAT, the Central Administrative Tribunal, State Administrative Tribunals, Railway Claims Tribunal, Securities Appellate Tribunal, Debt Recovery Tribunals and their appellate tribunal, Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal, among others.