Doon Valley Rice Limited Vs State Bank of India & Ors. (DRAT Kolkata)
The appeal before the Debts Recovery Appellate Tribunal (DRAT), Kolkata arose from an order dated 21.11.2017 passed by the Debts Recovery Tribunal (DRT)-II, Chandigarh in O.A. No. 3607/2017. By that order, the DRT directed the appellant to approach a civil court in respect of its counter-claim, holding that the counter-claim was not maintainable before the Tribunal.
Originally, O.A. No. 3607/2017 had been filed by the secured creditor against the appellant. The loan was later assigned to another bank. The original application was decided on 04.11.2011 in favour of the secured creditor. Against that decision, two appeals were filed before the DRAT, Delhi. By a common order dated 06.04.2015, the DRAT set aside the finding that the Tribunal lacked jurisdiction to consider the counter-claim and remanded the matter to the DRT. The Appellate Tribunal specifically directed the DRT to consider the counter-claim in accordance with law and also to examine issues relating to refund or adjustment of certain amounts and the effect of non-production of investigation reports. The DRT was given liberty to reconsider the bank’s claim while adjudicating the counter-claim.
The remand order of the DRAT was challenged by the bank before the High Court of Punjab and Haryana. By order dated 24.08.2017, the High Court disposed of the writ petition, clarifying that the DRAT had not expressed any opinion on the merits of either the claim or the counter-claim and that the remand caused no prejudice to the bank. The High Court directed the DRT to decide the counter-claim on merits within three months. With this, the remand order attained finality.
