Justice Venugopal, a former judge of the Madras High Court, was appointed to the NCLAT in May 2019. When the Chennai Bench came into being, Justice Venugopal was given charge of the new Bench.
Since then, he has continued to hear matters listed before the Chennai Bench from New Delhi via video conferencing.
Merla shifted from her hometown Hyderabad to Chennai on April 1, 2023. Until her retirement last month, she used to preside over hearings via hybrid mode, sitting physically at the Chennai Bench and her partner Member Justice Venugopal presiding from Delhi via video conferencing.
Justice Venugopal retired in October 2023, but rejoined the Chennai Bench after he was granted an extended tenure by the Union government in December 2023.
“In the two months that he was not there, Justice RK Jain presided over the Chennai Bench along with the technical member Shreesha Merla from 10:30 AM to 1 PM. And from 2 PM to 4 PM, Justice Jain used to hear the matters listed before his Delhi bench. In between, just for a few days, Justice Jain was away and Justice AB Singh took over via VC from Delhi,” a former officer said.
Source: Barandbench
