Ram Bahadur Rai Vs Authorized Officer (DRAT Allahabad)
The appeal before the Debts Recovery Appellate Tribunal, Allahabad arose from the dismissal of a securitisation application challenging the auction sale of a mortgaged residential property under the SARFAESI Act, 2002. The appellant had availed a housing loan from the respondent bank and had mortgaged his property by deposit of title deeds. Upon default in repayment, the loan account was classified as a non-performing asset and a demand notice dated 20.12.2007 was issued. As the dues remained unpaid, a possession notice dated 23.12.2013 was issued under Section 13(4) of the Act and symbolic possession of the property was taken.
An earlier attempt to auction the property failed due to lack of bidders. Thereafter, the bank issued a fresh auction notice dated 07.07.2014, which was published in newspapers on 06.07.2014, scheduling the auction on 28.08.2014. The property was auctioned, the entire sale consideration was received, and a sale certificate was issued on 15.09.2014, followed by registration of the sale deed on 23.09.2014. The borrower challenged the auction sale, sale certificate, and sale deed by filing a securitisation application, which was dismissed by the Debts Recovery Tribunal on the ground that no illegality was found in the bank’s actions.
