M. Gurusamy and Another vs Authorised Officer/Chief Manager, Indian Bank

S. Palanivelu, J.—The petitioners are borrowers from the respondent. For recovery of money, the respondent took steps under the

provisions of SARFAESI Act and issued possession notice as contemplated u/s 13(4) of the Act on 8-10-2007 to the petitioner. If the petitioners

are aggrieved by the proceedings, they have to prefer appeal before the Debts Recovery Tribunal, Coimbatore within 45 days. However they filed

appeal before the Debts Recovery Tribunal, Coimbatore after 49 days. Hence they filed a petition u/s 5 of the Limitation Act to condone the delay

of 4 days in filing the appeal before Debts Recovery Tribunal, Coimbatore.

The Presiding Officer of the said Tribunal rejected the application on 10-12-2007 by observing that Section 5 of the Limitation Act is applicable

in respect of ''Courts'' only and not to the Tribunals. Hence, the said petition seeking for condonation of delay is rejected.

Heard Mr. C. K. M. Appaji, learned Counsel appearing for the petitioners and Mr. V. Raghavachari, learned Counsel appearing for the

respondent.

Learned Counsel appearing for the petitioners has relied on a decision of this Court reported in Ponnusamy and Smt. P. Shanthi Vs. The Debts

Recovery Tribunal and The Corporation Bank, wherein the learned Judge has held that when the special statute does not say specific provisions as

to the exclusion of applicability of Section 5 of Limitation Act, the said provision can be made applicable, to which conclusion, the learned Judge

has referred and followed various decisions of the Supreme Court. At para 36 of the above decision, it is held as follows:

Therefore it is clear that Section 5 would apply even to some types of applications, though it may not apply to suits. The proceedings before

the Debts Recovery Tribunal u/s 17 of the SARFAESI Act, though original in nature, should be treated as Applications and not strictly like suits.

Therefore, the provisions of Section 5 of the Limitation Act in my considered view would apply to applications, u/s 17 of the SARFAESI Act But

the same logic cannot be extended to applications filed u/s 19 of the Recovery of Debts Due to Banks and Financial Institutions Act, 1993, since

Section 24 of the 1993 Act makes the provisions of the Limitation Act, 1963 applicable to an Application under the Act, meaning thereby that an

Application u/s 19 of the 1993 Act is to be treated as a Suit.

In view of the abovesaid legal position, it is made clear that Section 5 of the Limitation Act is very well applicable to the proceedings under

SARFAESI Act and it is held that the petition is maintainable. However it is for the petitioner to show before the Tribunal the sufficient cause for

the delay of 4 days.

In fine, the above Civil Revision Petition is allowed directing the Presiding Officer, Debts Recovery Tribunal, Coimbatore to restore the

application filed by the petitioners u/s 5 of Limitation Act and to dispose of the same in accordance with law.