A division bench of the Bombay High Court ordered that, in the absence of the relevant officers, a judicial magistrate or advocate may carry out an order issued under section 14 of the Securitization and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002 (SARFAESI Act).
These petitions are filed by the secured creditors who had applied under section 14 of SARFAESI Act. Since the applications have not been disposed of, the Petitioners have filed these petitions for directions for early disposal of these Petitions
The Petitioners submitted that orders under Section 14 of the SARFAESI Act often go unimplemented due to the unavailability of police support.
The bench observed that they cannot issue general directions in this regard as there could be various situations, but did observe that the police authorities should assist in implementation speedily, as far as feasible.
The court ruled that the State Government’s guidelines, issued in a circular dated 10 April 2002, stated that orders passed under Section 14 must be carried out within four weeks, and that if officers are overworked, an advocate may be appointed to execute in accordance with the law.
Further, the District Magistrates must maintain records and submit monthly statistics to the Divisional Commissioner. An online platform will be implemented to record all information and statistics.
The bench of Justice Abhay Ahuja and Justice Nitin Jamdar stated in view of the “Circular by the State Government and the statement of High Court administration, which we accept, we intend to issue certain directions. It is needless to stress the importance of expeditious disposal of the applications under section 14 of the SARFAESI Act, as the pendency of a large number of applications hinders the recovery of bad loans, which has a significant impact on the financial health of the country.”
Thus, the bench while disposing the writ petition stated that “if the officers entrusted with implementation of the Order are engaged in other pressing public duties, the option of appointing an advocate to implement the Order be explored within the parameters of the law. The same option can also be considered by the Judicial Magistrate, if so permissible in law.”
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