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A Supreme Court bench headed by the Chief Justice of India NV Ramana today passed an order asking High Courts to take up cases filed under the SARFAESI Act in their writ jurisdictions. The court passed this order in light of many Debt Recovery Tribunals (DRTs) and Debts Recovery Appellate Tribunals (DRATs) being non-functional owing to non-filling of vacancies.

The bench also consisting of Justices Chandrachud and Nageshwar Rao further asked the High Courts to remit such matters back to the tribunals once the vacancies are filled up and the tribunals are operational. The Court has also directed the Centre to expedite the appointments of Members and Chairpersons for the tribunals.

The Court was hearing a plea by the Bar Council of Madhya Pradesh stating that the transfer of jurisdiction of DRT at Jabalpur to DRT at Lucknow is causing confusion to litigants and lawyers alike. Senior Advocate Nidesh Gupta appearing for the Madhya Pradesh Bar Council submitted that Kerala High Court in a judgment has held that the jurisdiction of DRT cannot be transferred from one state to another. He further submitted that other tribunals within the state can be given the jurisdiction of DRT should there be no other option.

The Attorney General of India K K Venugopal submitted that since most of the hearings are happening online, the transfer of jurisdiction may not cause much difficulties. He further said that a request to the effect of giving DRT’s jurisdiction to Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) is already been made.

Cause Title: State Bar Council of Madhya Pradesh vs Union of India