ACCOUNTABILITY BETWEEN BAR AND BENCH FOR AI-HALLUCINATED PRECEDENTS
On 2 July 2026, in Pooja Ramesh Singh v. Jammu and Kashmir Bank Ltd. (2026 INSC 668), the Supreme Court of India set aside the orders of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) and the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), both of which had admitted an application filed under Section 7 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, against Essel Infraprojects Ltd., a corporate guarantor for the defaulted loans of Pan India Utilities Distribution Company Ltd. The NCLT had admitted the application, and the NCLAT had upheld that decision, with both tribunals relying on six cited precedents in doing so. When the Supreme Court of India examined those six citations on its own, it found something troubling. Three of the precedents did not exist at all, while two others were genuine judgments whose cited paragraphs could not be found anywhere in the reported decisions. The Supreme Court has since remanded the matter to the NCLT for fresh disposal, while making clear...