R. RAJESH Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) We have heard the petitioner as party-in-person and the learned counsel for the first respondent as well as the learned counsel for the third respondent and perused the materials placed.

(2.) The petitioner is an advocate practicing in the Courts and Tribunals at Chennai, including the second respondent/Tribunal. He is also a member of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India. He has come forward with this Public Interest Litigation for a writ of declaration to declare the Order dtd. 14/11/2017 passed by the second respondent, insofar as it relates to imposition of dress code for advocates for appearance before the Tribunal. For ready reference, the order dtd. 14/11/2017, which is impugned in this writ petition, is extracted below:

(3.) (i) According to the petitioner, the National Company Law Tribunal ("the Tribunal or NCLT") and the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal ("NCLAT or the Appellate Tribunal") were constituted under the Companies Act, 2013 and the Tribunal started functioning from 1/6/2016. Hitherto, Company Law Tribunal (CLB) was in existence from 1991 to 2016 until the constitution of the Tribunal on 1/6/2016. Upon constitution, the Tribunal exercises similar powers as that of the CLB in addition to the powers as conferred under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC). It is further stated by the petitioner that the Central Government constituted the Tribunal with an objective to dispose of cases relating to company matters expeditiously and to replace the erstwhile CLB and Board for Industrial and Financial Resconstruction (BIFR) besides the powers that were exercised by this Court under the Company Law jurisdiction. Thus, after the constitution of the Tribunal, CLB was dissolved and all the matters pending before the CLB were transferred to the Tribunal. Consequently, the judicial members from legal profession and technical members from other professions like Chartered Accountants, Company Secretaries etc. have been appointed and hence, the Tribunal is a quasi judicial authority administered by judicial and technical members. Above all, as per Ses. 427 of the Companies Act, 2013, the President, Members, Officers and other employees of the Tribunal shall be deemed to be public servants within the meaning of Ses. 21 of the Indian Penal Code. Similarly, the Chairperson, Members, Officers and other employees of the Appellate Tribunal are also deemed to be public servants.