C BRIGHT Vs. DISTRICT COLLECTOR, NAGERCOIL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Common issues arise for consideration in all these Writ Petitions and, therefore, they are disposed of by a common order.

(2.) In all these Writ Petitions, applications were filed before the District Collector/District Magistrate under Section 14 of the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002 (the SARFAESI Act) and either orders were passed after the lapse of the outer limit of 60 days and the borrower concerned challenged the order before this Court or orders were not passed within the said time limit and the secured creditor concerned approached this Court for expeditious disposal of such applications. The said outer limit of 60 days comprising an initial period of 30 days and an extended period of a further 30 days was stipulated by an amendment effected through Act 44 of 2016 which came into force on 01.09.2016 and it is the admitted position that the said amendment applies in all these Writ Petitions. Therefore, the primary question that arises for consideration, in these Writ Petitions, is whether the said time limit is mandatory and, if so, whether the District Collector/District Collector is divested of jurisdiction to decide the application on expiry of 60 days. In addition, in certain cases, the borrower concerned challenges the order under Section 14 on the basis that the requirements of the amended Section 14 with regard to the filing of an affidavit with the requisite details was not satisfied by the respective secured creditor therein.

(3.) For the purposes of adjudicating these Writ Petitions, the relevant facts with regard to: the date of filing of the respective application under Section 14 of the SARFAESI Act and the date of pronouncement of the order, where applicable, in the respective application are set out in the table below. As regards the requirement of filing an affidavit with the requisite details along with the respective application, details are not available on record and the same is mentioned in the said table below: <FRM>JUDGEMENT_147_LAWS(MAD)7_2019_1.html</FRM>