Summary:
New Delhi, Aug 8 (PTI) Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Monday took exception to an opposition MP walking up to a Union minister"s seat during Question Hour, saying no one should move around without his permission.
It was after the House discussed a supplementary question related to the availability of human resources in the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Union minister Rao Inderjit Singh called Trinamool Congress MP Sougata Roy to explain the government"s position in private.
When Birla noticed Roy at Singh"s seat, he asked the opposition member why he was with the minister.
Roy replied that the minister called him.
Taking exception to this, the speaker said the minister could not call any member without his permission.
Singh said there are 62 posts in the NCLT, including that of the chairman, and of these, 30 posts have been filled up.
"Fifteen posts of members have become vacant, and in June, the chief justice of India interviewed a number of people to fill up these vacancies.
Another 15 vacancies already existed.
They have been advertised and will be filled up as and when the chief justice of India conducts interviews of candidates who apply for these posts," he said.
At this point, Roy said it was a total failure of the government in terms of being unable to fill up the benches.
When the minister reminded that selection of members of the NCLT and the NCLAT is done under the chairmanship of the chief justice of India, Roy said: "Take it away from him, if he cannot select." The minister said the government has sanctioned adequate number of posts of judicial and technical members as well as posts of other officers and staff in the NCLT.
The vacancies are being filled as and when they arise, and 20 members were appointed in 2021, he said.
Further, Singh said a selection committee constituted under section 412 of the Companies Act, 2013 under the chairmanship of the chief justice of India or his nominee has already initiated the selection process for filling up the vacancies existing and arising in 2022.
Vacancies of other officers and staff are also being filled by the NCLT from time to time, and the government has also approved the engagement of sufficient number of officers and staff on contractual and outsourcing basis to ensure its functions are not hampered, he said.
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