Pritpal Singh vs State Bank of India and Others

Hemant Gupta, J.—Reply filed on behalf of respondent No. 1 in Court today is taken on record.

Defendant No. 4 is the petitioner in the present revision petition under Article 227 of the Constitution of India seeking direction of transfer of application for setting aside of ex-parte judgment and decree dated 15.02.2002 to the Debts Recovery Tribunal, Chandigarh.

In Civil Suit No. 76 dated 09.05.1978, the decree was passed on 15.02.2002 for recovery of Rs. 7,35,904/- alongwith future interest at the agreed rate i.e.15 81% per annum with quarterly rests.

The petitioner herein moved an application for setting the said ex-parte decree on 18.01.2003. During the pendency of such application for setting aside the ex-parte decree, the bank-decree holder sought issuance of recovery certificate on the basis of judgment and decree passed by the Civil Court from the Debts Recovery Tribunal constituted under the Recovery of Debts Due to Banks and Financial Institutions Act, 1993 (hereinafter referred to the Act). The Debts Recovery Tribunal accepted the request of the Bank and issued recovery certificate on 15.06.2004. The grievance of the petitioner is that the application for setting aside of ex-parte judgment and decree is now required to be decided by the Debts Recovery Tribunal inasmuch as the Civil Court has no jurisdiction u/s 31 of the aforesaid Act as the amount due to the bank is more than Rs. 10 lakh.

Mr. Pathania, learned counsel for the Bank could not dispute the fact that the jurisdiction of the Civil Court is barred in terms of Section 31 of the Act. It is so apparent as the Bank itself sought recovery certificate from the Debts Recovery Tribunal after passing of the judgment and decree by the Civil Court. Therefore, the application for setting aside of ex-parte judgment and decree is required to be decided by the Debts Recovery Tribunal and not by the Civil Court.

In view of the above, the application for setting aside the ex-parte judgment and decree is ordered to be transferred to the Debts Recovery Tribunal, Chandigarh. The Debts Recovery Tribunal shall consider the said application in accordance with law.

The parties through counsel are directed to appear before the Debts Recovery Tribunal on 10.01.2005 for further proceedings in accordance with law.