, Competition Appellate Tribunal (COMPAT)Ceased now NCLT have the powers of COMPAT ~ CS GAURAV SHARMA

June 18, 2017

Competition Appellate Tribunal (COMPAT)Ceased now NCLT have the powers of COMPAT

As per a recent amendment, the Competition Appellate Tribunal (COMPAT) has ceased
to exist . The appellate function under the Competition Act, 2002

(Competition Act) would now confer to the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal
(NCLAT). These amendments were brought about under the provisions of Part XIV of
Chapter VI of the Finance Act, 2017. Accordingly, Sections 2(ba) and 53A of the
Competition Act and Section 410 of the Companies Act, 2013 (CA 2013) have been
appropriately amended and various other provisions of the Competition Act dealing with
the COMPAT have been omitted. Further, Section 417A has been introduced in the
CA 2013 and deals with the qualifications, terms and conditions of service of the
Chairperson and Members of the NCLAT.

Previously, all appeals against specified orders of the Competition Commission of India
(CCI) would lie to the COMPAT whereas the NCLAT dealt with, inter alia, appeals arising
out of orders of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) under the CA 2013 as well as
the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy

Code, 2016.

There will be a transition phase during which all pending matters before the COMPAT
stand transferred to the NCLAT. During this period, all such matters will be heard afresh
by the NCLAT.

Further, the details regarding the procedural formalities followed by the NCLAT, including
filings, are provided in the NCLAT Rules, 2016 (Rules).

The Rules primarily pertain to Companies Act 2013, and for a smooth transition of matters from COMPAT to NCLAT, as well as fresh
filings, an amendment to the Rules would be required.

For instance, it is not clear what
the filing fee would be for an appeal filed with the NCLAT under the Competition Act.


There is also a perceived lack of clarity regarding the manner and the timelines in which
these transferred matters will be dealt with by the NCLAT, given that the NCLAT is already
burdened with adjudication of appeals arising out of the NCLT as well as the IBBI.

 This brings to the fore concerns about whether the administrative machinery of the NCLAT is
equipped to deal with the additional authority that has now been assigned to it. At

present, the NCLAT has only two members i.e., one Chairperson who is a retired Supreme








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