Devraj and Anr. v. Bank of Baroda and Ors.

Appeal Dy. No. 795/2022 Date: 02.02.2023

Devraj & Anr. Vs. Bank of Baroda & Ors.

Present: Shri Abdul Majeed, counsel for the appellants, Shri Prakhar Tandon, counsel for the respondent no. 3- Auction Purchaser,

The office report dated 01.02.2023 shows that no affidavit of service has been filed. Let the same be filed by the next date. It has been reported by the registry that no pre-deposit has been made in the present case.

The present appeal has been filed under section 18 of the SARFAESI Act against the final order dated 07.12.2019 passed by the DRT, Allahabad in S.A. No. 475 of 2019. As per second proviso of section 18 of the said Act, no appeal shall be entertained unless the borrower has deposited with the Appellate Tribunal 50% of the amount of debt due from him, as claimed by the secured creditor or determined by the Debt Recovery Tribunal, whichever is less. Further, the third proviso of the said section says that the Appellate Tribunal may, for the reasons to be recorded in writing, reduce the amount to not less than 25% of the debt referred to in the second proviso. As such, this Tribunal has no power to reduce the amount below to 25% of the amount due.

In the present case, the appellants have not deposited any amount towards minimum deposit of 25% of the amount due, which is mandatory in nature in view of the third proviso of section 18 of the SARFAESI Act, as the amount realized by the Bank from auction sale of the property of the appellant cannot be taken into consideration towards pre-deposit in view of the judgment passed by the Hon’ble Apex Court in Civil Appeal No. 8969 of 2022- M/s Sidha Neelkanth

Paper Industries Private Limited & Another Vs. Prudent ARC Limited & Others decided on 05.01.2023 .