JUDGMENT

HANSARIA, J. :( This petition under Article 32 of the Constitution challenging certain provisions of the Companies (Amendment) Act, 1988 hereinafter the Act by which an independent Company Law Board (for short, the Board) was constituted has served its purpose well on framing of the Company Law Board (Qualifications, Experience and other Conditions of Service of Members) Rules, 1993, which were published 139 in the extraordinary Gazette of Government of India dated April 28, 1993, followed by amendment of these rules by notification dated 3-6-94 which, inter alia, substituted a new rule 8 in place of original rule 8. We have said so because the provisions of the Act assailed, namely, Sections 4, 5, 16, 21 and 27 do not suffer from any constitutional infirmity. The challenge to the aforesaid sections has, however, been on the ground of legislative incompetence as well as lack of valid classification in having conferred the power visualised by Section 397 of the principal Act on the Board, as would appear from what has been stated under serial number 14 in the table to Section 67 of the Act, leaving power under Section 443 with the High Court.

2. The legislative incompetence