The government says it only handles paperwork for top judges, not the people running the tribunal day to day.
The Ministry of Corporate Affairs said on October 30, 2026, that its role in NCLT appointments is strictly administrative and limited to the tribunal's 63 judicial and technical members, pushing back against Supreme Court criticism that the ministry had taken over the tribunal's affairs.
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MCA Role in NCLT Appointments Draws a Clear Line
The ministry put out a statement through the Press Information Bureau in New Delhi, directly addressing news reports about personnel matters at the National Company Law Tribunal. It said the MCA only performs the administrative role in the conduct of the appointment process for the 63 judicial and technical members of the NCLT. That is a narrow job, the ministry insisted, and nothing more.
Beyond those top posts, the MCA said it has no hand in hiring or managing the tribunal's everyday workforce. According to the statement, the NCLT independently undertakes the process for appointment and management of its officers and staff, including deputy registrars, court officers, stenographers, office assistants and multi-tasking staff. The ministry wanted to make one thing obvious: judges are one bucket, staff is a completely different bucket, and the government only touches the first one.
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Supreme Court's Sharp Words Set Off the Clarification
This statement did not come out of nowhere. A day earlier, a three-judge Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant raised serious concerns about the ministry's alleged grip on NCLT and NCLAT administration. Reports from the hearing said the court described the tribunal as having been completely hijacked by the MCA, a phrase that quickly made headlines and put pressure on the ministry to respond.
The court reportedly stressed that recruitment powers tied to the tribunal should sit with the NCLT president, not with a government ministry overseeing company law matters. That is the heart of the tension. Judges on the bench appeared worried that if the ministry controls who gets hired and who manages the tribunal's operations, the NCLT's independence as a judicial body could be compromised, even if indirectly.
A 2019 Notification at the Center of the Dispute
The MCA pointed back to a notification dated October 14, 2019, saying that is when the government delegated responsibility for appointing and managing NCLT staff to the tribunal itself. The ministry framed that move as a deliberate step to protect the NCLT's effective and independent functioning, not to grab control over it.
That 2019 delegation matters because it is the legal basis the ministry is leaning on now. If staff hiring was formally handed to the NCLT seven years ago, the ministry argues, then any claims of ongoing government interference in day-to-day staffing do not hold up. Records from the NCLT's own careers page show recruitment activity continuing under this arrangement, including an advertisement for deputation posts dated May 21, 2026, with a closing date of July 20, 2026, suggesting the tribunal has been running its own hiring process in practice.
What This Means for Companies and Insolvency Cases
For businesses watching insolvency proceedings and company law disputes, this fight over appointments is not just bureaucratic noise. The NCLT handles cases that affect company survival, creditor payouts and corporate disputes, and any doubt about who truly controls its staffing can raise questions about how independently those cases get decided. A tribunal short on registrars or court officers also moves slower, which directly affects businesses waiting on rulings.
Some reports have floated a longer-term fix, where the NCLT and NCLAT could recruit staff in phases with help from bodies like the Union Public Service Commission or the Staff Selection Commission. That idea has only been discussed as a possible solution so far. It has not been confirmed as government policy, and no timeline has been set for when or if it might be adopted.
Where the Standoff Goes From Here
The MCA's clarification settles the ministry's public position, but it does not end the Supreme Court's scrutiny. The court appeared focused on whether real independence exists in practice, not just on paper through old notifications. That means further hearings could dig deeper into staffing patterns, vacancies and whether the NCLT president truly has free rein over recruitment.
Until the court weighs in further, the confirmed facts stand simply: the MCA says it only manages the appointment process for 63 judicial and technical members, while the NCLT says it independently hires and manages everyone else, from deputy registrars to office assistants. How that holds up under continued Supreme Court attention will shape the next chapter of this dispute.
