The NCLT Bench Vacancy Crisis and the Real-World Slowdown in IBC Resolutions

The National Company Law Tribunal has lived with bench vacancies for years. The practical effect in 2025-26 has become impossible to ignore: average CIRP timelines have stretched well past the 330-day statutory cap, scheme matters routinely run 12-18 months, and even straightforward corporate-action approvals face delays that are non-trivial for transaction-timing. This article is the working-CS view of where we are, why, and how to plan around it.

The institutional setup, briefly

NCLT comprises sixteen benches across India. Each bench is constituted by a judicial member and a technical member. The President, Vice-Presidents, and a roster of members are appointed by the Central Government on the recommendation of a selection committee. The pace of appointments has, through multiple years, lagged the pace of vacancies. As of mid-2026, a significant fraction of seats remain unfilled at any given time.

What the numbers actually look like

• Bench-level pendency has crossed 25,000 matters across the system.
• Median time to first hearing post-filing has stretched to 60+ days in many benches.
• Average CIRP duration has crossed 580 days against the 330-day cap — most of the excess is in NCLT/NCLAT litigation rather than CIRP execution.
• Scheme of arrangement matters that historically resolved in 6 months now run 10-14 months in busy benches.

The cascading effects for the CS

1. Transaction-timing is no longer a single decision. When the NCLT phase of a scheme is 10 months instead of 6, the appointed date / effective date construction matters more.
2. Resolution applicants in CIRPs are losing patience. Plans approved by the CoC but stuck at NCLT for 4-6 months have created cases of plan withdrawal under Section 12A or modified plans.
3. The cost of waiting becomes material. Interim management costs, value erosion in distressed assets, opportunity cost on capital — all stretch.
4. Mentioning and out-of-turn relief is harder. When the bench is overworked, the bar for urgency rises.
5. Adjournments multiply. The fewer the benches sitting, the more matters per cause list, the higher the adjournment rate.

The strategic responses we see

• Section 233 (fast-track) used more aggressively. Where eligibility permits, the RD route now offers a real time advantage over NCLT — covered in our separate article.
• Pre-pack insolvency (Section 54A-54P). The MSME pre-pack regime has begun to see uptake; expansion to a broader set of corporates is under discussion.
• Out-of-court restructuring. RBI's Prudential Framework for Resolution of Stressed Assets (June 2019) has become more relevant as IBC delays push lenders toward consensual restructurings.
• Holding company / subsidiary realignment before initiating restructuring — pre-positioning structures so that if NCLT is needed, the path is cleaner.
• Early filing. Matters that historically would have waited for board approval now sometimes file shortly after AC approval, in pre-emption of the delay.

What the CS can actually do

1. Build NCLT timeline assumptions into every transaction term sheet. Long-stop dates of 9-12 months are now reasonable.
2. Pre-filing diligence. Every defect that triggers a query adds 2-4 weeks. The most-prepared application moves fastest.
3. Track the cause list and the bench composition. Knowing the bench's personality and current load shapes filing strategy.
4. Use mentioning slots only for genuine urgency. Burning credibility in mentioning hurts the rest of the matter.
5. Anticipate NCLAT — and write the NCLT application as if it will be appealed. Clean reasoning at NCLT becomes evidence at NCLAT.

The legislative direction

There is ongoing public discussion about expansion of NCLT capacity — additional benches, increased filing of members, possibly delegated registrar powers for procedural matters. Whether the structural relief arrives in the next 12-18 months is uncertain. Planning on the present rather than the hoped-for is the safer assumption.

How Delta Filings supports NCLT-side work

The Delta Filings tribunal monitoring module ingests NCLT cause lists across benches, tracks orders involving any entity on the watchlist, and surfaces the matter status against the working calendar. For a CS managing multiple ongoing matters across benches, the cross-bench pendency view replaces the spreadsheet most teams still maintain.

The closing note

The NCLT capacity question is one of the structural challenges in Indian commercial dispute resolution. The CS who plans around it — long-stop dates, alternative routes, clean filings — moves matters meaningfully faster than the CS who plans around the statutory timeline. Both can be unfair criticisms of the institution; only one of them is useful for the client in front of you.