NCLAT Chennai member recuses after saying retired HC judge contacted him for favourable order

Justice Sharad Kumar Sharma, Judicial Member of the NCLAT Chennai Bench, recused himself from hearing a 2023 appeal concerning a Hyderabad-based company’s admission into the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) under the IBC. 

In open court, he revealed that one litigating party had tried to influence him through a retired High Court judge, displaying a message on his phone before stepping aside.

This marks his second recent recusal after a November 2024 Jeppiar Cements case and an earlier withdrawal from Byju’s CIRP proceedings due to prior legal ties with the BCCI. The case will now be heard by a reconstituted bench.