Justice Dilip Raosaheb Deshmukh took charge as new Chairman

Former Chhattisgarh High Court Judge Mr Justice Dilip Raosaheb Deshmukh took charge as the new Chairman of the Company Law Board (CLB) on Friday, four days ahead of the originally scheduled joining date. This follows a request by the Government as the presiding Chairman, Mr R. Vasudevan, was arrested on Tuesday by the CBI in a bribery case. The CLB Chairman’s post was held by bureaucrats for many years.

Talking to Business Line after assuming charge, Mr Justice Deshmukh said, “If some damage has been caused to CLB due to the recent event, we will undo it. In the time to come, I will ensure that the reputation of CLB is restored.”

On the pending cases numbering to around 2,000 in CLB, Mr Justice Deshmukh said he would look into it, but did not elaborate.

After the retirement of Mr S. Balasubramanian on November 2, the post of Chairman has been vacant. Mr Vasudevan, Member, CLB, has been presiding as the Chairman since then.

The 62-year-old Mr Justice Deshmukh has a brilliant academic record.

He is a gold medal-winning post-graduate in commerce from Ravishankar Shukla University and a post-graduate in law from the Jiwaji University, Gwalior, where he secured highest marks in the LL.M examination.

Mr Justice Deshmukh has served as the District and Sessions Judge at Bilaspur; Deputy Secretary (Law and Legislative Affairs Department), Madhya Pradesh Government, and was also posted on deputation as Additional Welfare Commissioner (Government of India), to look into the Bhopal gas tragedy.

He has represented Madhya Pradesh in the International Colloquium on Arbitration and Conciliation at New Delhi and has worked as the legal advisor to the Chhattisgarh Governor. He was elevated as additional Judge of ChhattisgarhHigh Court in May 2005 and appointed as permanent Judge in May 2007.

The CLB is likely to be replaced by the proposed National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), and the new Companies Bill says that the President of NCLT shall be a person who is or has been a High Court Judge.