SATYANARAYAN KHATOD Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By the present Petition, the Petitioner seeks quashing of the impugned Notice dtd. 22/5/23. This Notice is issued by Tahsildar to take possession of the secured asset which is a property in Nashik owned by Respondent No.3. The secured asset is as under:

(2.) The grievance made by the Petitioner in the present case is that he has an arbitration award against the borrower and in those proceedings a Receiver was appointed initially under Sec. 17 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 and which was thereafter, continued when the final award was passed on 6/4/2021. He submitted that the final arbitration award categorically records that the interim order dtd. 17/2/2021 with respect to the appointment of the Receiver shall continue till either (i) execution proceedings are filed; or (ii) the final award is set aside by the appropriate adjudicating authority. The learned counsel for the Petitioner submitted that once the property was custodia legis, the Tahsildar could not issue any Notice to take possession of the mortgage property under Sec. 14 of the SARFAESI Act, 2002 without seeking permission of the appropriate Court. When we put it to the learned counsel for the Petitioner that this Receiver would continue perpetually if the Petitioner does not file any execution proceedings, he, on instructions, stated that the Petitioner shall file execution proceedings to enforce the arbitration award in the appropriate Court within a period of two weeks from today. He has further stated that he shall also give notice to Respondent No.2 (State Bank of India) of the filing of the said execution application immediately thereafter.

(3.) Accepting the statements made and recorded earlier, as undertaking given to this Court, we are of the view that the secured asset being custodia legis, the secured creditor (State Bank of India) is at liberty to seek directions [in the execution proceedings proposed to be filed by the Petitioner] inter-alia directing the Receiver to hand over possession of the secured asset to the Tahsildar, who then, in turn, will hand over possession of the same to the secured creditor.