Smt Meenu Agarwal v. District Magistrate Pauri Gharwal and Others

Appeal Dy. No. 344/2021 Date: 21.02.2023

Smt. Meenu Agarwal Vs. District Magistrate, Pauri Gharwal & Ors.

Present: Shri Gaurav Bajpai, Advocate holding brief of Shri Amit Khanna, counsel for the appellant,

Learned counsel for the appellant submits that the arguing counsel Shri Atul Bansal, who comes from Nainital, could not appear before this Tribunal today due to some personal difficulty, hence he prays for adjournment.

The present appeal has been filed under section 18 of the SARFAESI Act against the orders dated 13.01.2021 and 03.02.2021 passed by the DRT, Dehradun in S.A. No. 61 of 2019. In the present case, the appellant has not deposited any amount towards pre-deposit, whereas the second proviso of said section says that 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 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. Therefore, the appellant is directed to deposit minimum 25% of the amount due, which is mandatory in nature, for entertaining the appeal. If the appellant does not deposit the said amount prior to the next date fixed, the appeal shall stand dismissed as not entertainable for want of mandatory pre-deposit without further reference to this court. If the said amount is deposited by the appellant within the stipulated period, list this case on 10.05.2023 for hearing on waiver of the rest 25% of the amount due.

Justice R. D. Khare Chairperson