DRT  Court Fees

1) Under Order 33 Rule 1 of the Code of Civil Procedure, if a person has no means to pay Court fees then he can sue as an indigent(pauper) person.

ii) Similar rule is held to applicable for proceedings before other Tribunals. Hence this rule is also applicable for filing Appeals under The Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002 and The Recovery of Debts Due to Banks and Financial Institution Act, 1993. Therefore if a borrower has no money to pay the prescribed court fees for filing appeal or counter claim, he may sue as pauper before the debt Recovery Tribunal.

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PROSECUTION OF BANKS (SARFESI ACT)

Under Section 29 of the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002

1.    If any person/bank contravenes or attempts to contravene or abets contravention of the provisions of this Act or any Rules made thereunder, he shall be punishable with imprisonment in terms which may extend to one year or with fine or with both.

2.    In view of the said provision under the Act, in case the financial institution or the bank fails to follow the mandatory prescribed procedure for taking possession of any movable or immovable properties and sale thereof, in such case the authorized officer of the bank is liable to be prosecuted as above.

3.    To safeguard the interest of the borrowers, the Act and Rules thereunder has prescribed the mode of taking possession of the movable or immovable property and the mode of sale for realization of debts.

4.    That the financial institution, 60 days after issuing demand notice under Section 13(2) of the Act, can take possession of the movable and immovable properties only after the prescribed possession notice is issued as in Appendix-IV of the Rules. That authorized officer of the bank after taking possession of the immovable property shall take steps for preservation and protection of the secured asset and insure them if necessary, till they are sold or otherwise disposed off. Further, before affecting sale of the immovable property, the authorized officer shall obtain valuation of the property from an approved valuer and fix the reserved price of the property. Further, before sale of the property, the authorized officer has to issue a notice of 30 days to the borrower.

5.    If the aforesaid procedure is not followed, the possession and sale of the property shall become illegal and the authorized officer shall become liable to be prosecuted and punished.