It's a solo act at CLB now

The Company Law Board (CLB) is now left with only one member as against its sanctioned strength of nine following the retirement of K C Ganjwal.

Officiating chairman, S Balasubramaniam's extension had ended on November 2. Ganjwal, the only other member sitting in Delhi retired on November 26. K K Balu, representing the southern bench, is only the lone member in the CLB. While all regional benches except north and south were vacant for some time, the northern bench too has fallen vacant.

To tide over the crisis, the government is trying to secure an extension for both the retired members so that the board can continue to be functional, said a government official, adding that the selection committee should select more people immediately to increase the strength of the board, the official added.

The standing committee on finance, which presented its report in August, expressed its dismay at the apathetic attitude of the government towards the CLB, which was operating with only three members till recently.

The standing committee also directed that the government should take steps to fill the vacancies in the CLB till the National Company Law Tribunal becomes fully operational,.

At the end of March this year, 2181 cases were pending before the board. When the parliamentary committee wanted to know the reason for the huge number of pending cases, the government had said that that actual pendency would depend upon the the number of new cases being filed and pendency is going down as the filing of new cases is less.

On the committee's concern about the steps that could be taken for speedy disposal of cases, the government had replied that the concern of the committee would be conveyed to the CLB.