Suresh Kumar Jalan & Ors vs Eastcoast Steel Ltd & Ors

Company Appeal (AT) No. 331 of 2026 IN THE MATTER OF: Suresh Kumar Jalan & Ors. ...Appellants

Versus

Eastcoast Steel Ltd. & Ors. ...Respondents

Present: For Appellants : Mr. Asav Rajan, Mr. Kashish Chadha, Mr. Aditya Shah, Advocates. For Respondents :

ORDER

(Hybrid Mode)

10.09.2026: The appellant before us, is as against the impugned order

of 20.05.2026, passed in T.P. (Co. Act) 10/PB of 2026. By virtue of the

impugned order under challenge, the appellant requests invoking Rule 16 of

the NCLT Rules, 2016, for seeking transfer of proceedings of the company

petition has been rejected.

2. After having heard the Ld. Counsel for the appellant and after going

through the records and the impugned order, as well as that of the appeal,

the basis for seeking a transfer was a purported unprecedented

apprehension that was expressed by the appellant, owing to the fact that the

Tribunal had taken a particular view in another connected company petition,

the appellants proceedings too may be decided against him.

3. The appellant thought that there would be a bias prevailing in the

minds of the Tribunal, while deciding the other connected petition, in which

he has an interest.

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4. This particular ground taken for the purposes of seeking transfer and

that too under Rule 16 of NCLT Rules, 2016 is not contemplated under law,

and this cannot be permitted to be perpetuated because it would amount to

an abuse of process of a judicial system. Apart from it, Rule 16 of NCLT

Rules, 2016, in itself, under which the application was preferred, does not

contemplate such a type of situation to be invoked for seeking transfer of the

matter. Rule 16 of NCLT Rules, 2016 is exclusively administrative in its

application, cannot be invoked where party to the proceedings alleges

without basis lack of confidence over the court.

5. The company appeal lacks merit, and the same is accordingly

dismissed. However, it goes without saying and inevitably expected too that

the principal company petition will be exclusively decide the petition on its

own merits, uninfluenced by the observations made by us or in the

impugned order passed by Ld. NCLT.

All interlocutory applications would stand closed.

[Justice Sharad Kumar Sharma] Member (Judicial)

[Arun Baroka] Member (Technical)

[Indevar Pandey] Member (Technical)

SA/rr

Company Appeal (AT) No. 331 of 2026