Former Supreme Court Judge Justice Ashok Bhushan has demitted office as the Chairperson of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), bringing to an end a tenure of nearly five years during which the appellate tribunal delivered several landmark judgments under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) and the Competition Act.
Justice Bhushan assumed charge as NCLAT Chairperson on November 8, 2021, following his retirement from the Supreme Court in July 2021. He was initially appointed for a four-year term and was reappointed in 2025 to continue in office until attaining the age of 70 years on July 4, 2026.
During his tenure, Justice Bhushan presided over several high-profile appeals involving corporate insolvency resolution, liquidation, competition law, digital markets, corporate governance and company law. His Benches delivered significant precedents that have shaped the interpretation of the IBC as well as India’s evolving competition law framework.
One of the most notable contributions of his tenure was in the field of digital competition. In the Google Android matter, an NCLAT Bench headed by Justice Bhushan upheld key findings of the Competition Commission of India (CCI), holding that Google’s practice of tying its proprietary applications with the Play Store and imposing restrictive obligations on original equipment manufacturers could amount to abuse of dominant position under Section 4 of the Competition Act.
In another important ruling concerning Google Play Store Billing, the tribunal held that Google’s conduct in leveraging its dominant position in the app store ecosystem to promote and protect its own payment system could constitute abuse of dominance. The tribunal also clarified that penalties under the Competition Act must be computed on the basis of relevant turnover rather than total turnover, laying down an important principle for determining competition law penalties.
Justice Bhushan also presided over appeals arising from the CCI’s proceedings against WhatsApp and Meta concerning WhatsApp’s 2021 Privacy Policy. While the NCLAT upheld the CCI’s finding that the revised privacy policy raised competition concerns relating to data sharing and market dominance, it modified certain remedial directions issued by the regulator.
His tenure also witnessed several significant pronouncements under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. In *Union Bank of India v. Dinkar T. Venkatasubramanian*, a five-member Bench headed by Justice Bhushan held that the NCLAT has no statutory power to review its final judgments. However, it clarified that the appellate tribunal could exercise a limited power of recall in exceptional cases involving procedural irregularity, sufficient cause or violation of principles of natural justice.
In the Go First insolvency proceedings, the NCLAT upheld the maintainability of the airline’s voluntary insolvency application under Section 10 of the IBC despite objections raised by aircraft lessors, reaffirming the statutory scheme governing voluntary corporate insolvency resolution.
In another important decision, *Puneet Kaur v. K.V. Developers*, the tribunal strengthened the rights of homebuyers by holding that claims reflected in the corporate debtor’s books of account cannot be ignored merely because formal claims were not submitted within the prescribed timeline. It ruled that such liabilities must be incorporated in the Information Memorandum and appropriately dealt with before approval of any resolution plan.
Justice Bhushan’s judicial approach was widely regarded as emphasising procedural discipline, commercial certainty, statutory interpretation and adherence to the objectives of insolvency resolution while balancing the interests of financial creditors, operational creditors, homebuyers and corporate debtors.
Before joining the NCLAT, Justice Bhushan had a distinguished judicial career spanning more than four decades. Born on July 5, 1956, in Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh, he graduated in Arts in 1975 and obtained his law degree with First Division from the University of Allahabad in 1979. After enrolling with the Bar Council of Uttar Pradesh on April 6, 1979, he practised on the civil and original side of the Allahabad High Court. During his practice, he served as Standing Counsel for Allahabad University, the State Mineral Development Corporation Limited, several municipal bodies, banks and educational institutions, and was elected Senior Vice-President of the Allahabad High Court Bar Association.
He was elevated as a permanent Judge of the Allahabad High Court on April 24, 2001. In 2014, he was transferred to the Kerala High Court, where he served as Acting Chief Justice before being appointed Chief Justice on March 26, 2015. He was elevated to the Supreme Court on May 13, 2016, and also served as Chairman of the Ravi Beas Water Tribunal in 2020 before retiring from the apex court on July 4, 2021.
Justice Bhushan’s retirement marks the conclusion of a significant chapter in the evolution of India’s corporate insolvency and competition law jurisprudence. His successor will inherit several pending high-stakes appeals involving insolvency resolution, antitrust enforcement, digital markets and corporate governance that continue to shape India’s commercial legal landscape.
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