Advocates:
Counsels :
L. Nageswara Rao, Additional Solicitor General, Kapil Sibal, Ashok H. Desai, S.K. Dholakia, V.K. Munshi, Bhaskar P. Gupta, T.R. Andhyarujina, Harish N. Salve, Dr. A.M. Singhvi, N.S. Sistani, Sr. Advs., Sunil Kumar Jain, S. Borthakur, Ansar Ahmad Chandhary, Brijesh Kalappa, Ms. Radha Rangaswamy, B. Devasekhar, Ravi Ashri, P.K. Manohar, Ajay Choudhary, Paras Kuhad, R.N. Karanjawala, Hrishikesh Baruah, Ms. Jasmine Damkewala, Gaurav Khanna, Krishan Kumar Gogna, Ms. Nandini Gore, Ms. Padmalakshmi Nigam, Arunabh Chouwdhury, Ms. Manik Karanjawala, Shakeel Ahmed, A.T. Patra, Nipun Malhotra, Prateek Jalan, Siddharth Bhatnagar, Nirnimesh Dube, Ms. Sonal Tripathi, Ms. Indra Sawhney, V. Sudeer, M.B. Rama Subba Raju, Balaji Srinivasan, S. Srinivasan, Ms. S. Sunita, Ms. Kiran Suri, Ms. Kirti R. Mishra, Bhupender Yadav, Ms. Babita Yadav, R.C. Kohli, Tripurari Ray, Vishwajit Singh, Ritesh Agrawal, P.D. Sharma, Ashish Dholakia, Ms. Sumita Hazarika, Manoj Swarup, Uday Gupta, Ms. Suruchii Agarwal, P.N. Puri, Y. Raja Gopala Rao, Mahesh Agarwal, Rishi Agarwal, Vivek Yadav, E.C. Agrawala, M.J.S. Rupal, Madhup Singhal, Ms. Suruchii Aggarwal, Jitendra Mohan Sharma, Manoj Swarup, Ms. Lalita Kohli, Anubhav Kumar, Ashok Kumar Gupta, S.N. Bhat, Nikhil Nayyar, Ms. Shobha, Manoj Sharma, Ms. Sheetal Aggarwal, Manish Jain, Atul Sharma, Praveen Jain, Pramod Swarup, Uday Gupta, Vivek Narayan, Prem Malhotra, Saurabh Kirpal, Rajiv Shakdhar, Manish Singhvi, Ms. V. Mohana, Ms. Sushma Suri, Ms. P.S. Shroff, Sunil Dogra, Ms. Rashi Malhotra, Vikram B. Trivedi, Bharat Sangal, Ms. Sangeeta S. Panicker, R.R. Kumar, S. Mehta, Pranabh Kumar Mullick, Rajeev Sharma, Deepak Goel, Rishi Malhotra, M.P.S. Thomar, Ms. Sandhya Goswami, V. Maheshwari, Rameshwar Prasad Goyal, S.H. Bhujani, Ms. Sayali Phatak, O.P. Gaggar, Dhruv Mehta, Mohit Chaudhary, Ms. Shalini Gupta, Pradeep Dewan, Dr. Manmohan Sharma, Pramod B. Agarwala, G.S. Sistani, Rajender Wali, Rakesh Singh, Arun K. Sinha, Sanjay R. Hegde, P.S. Shetty, Anil K. Misra, Janendra Lal, Ms. Yasmin Tarapore, Ms. Divya Lal, V. Ramasubramanian, M.T. George, Ms. Kamini Jaiswal, Ms. Shomila Bakshi, Ms. Barooah, R.N. Keshwani, Ms. Ruchi A. Mahajan, Ms. S. Janani, Ms. Reena Kumar, Akhil Sibal, S.U.K. Sagar, Ms. Bina Madhavan, Ms. Pooja Nanekhar, Arun Aggarwal, Sanjay Kapur, Rajiv Kapur, Ms. Shubhra Kapur, Rajender Wali, Rakesh Singh, Arun K. Sinha, D.K. Sinha, Ms. Jayashree Wad, Ashish Wad, Ms. Yugandhara Jha, Anshu Bhanot, Satyajit A. Desai, Venkateswara Rao Anumolu, Ashok Kumar Jain, B.K. Jain, Pankaj Jain, Bijoy Kumar Jain, Rajesh Jain, S.S. Ray, Ms. Rakhi Ray, Ms. Pooja Bhatnagar, Ms. Shilpi Jha, Nina Gupta, Bina Gupta, Rajiv Mehra, M. Dutta, Rajiv Mehta, Advs. with them—For the Appearing Parties.

Key Points: - The Court held that the 75% deposit requirement under Section 17(2) is invalid/ultra vires to Article 14 (unreasonable and oppressive) (!) (!) (!) . - The Civil Court is barred from entertaining suits related to matters the Debts Recovery Tribunal/Appellate Tribunal can determine under Section 34, with limited exceptions (e.g., certain English mortgages) (!) (!) (!) . - The Act requires secured creditors to consider borrower objections raised in response to Section 13(2) notices and communicate reasons for not accepting such objections [6000035280044][6000035280045]. - Borrowers may file appeals before the Debt Recovery Tribunal under Section 17 after measures under Section 13(4), but Section 17(2) deposit rule is struck down; Section 17 still provides a path after measures (!) (!) (!) . - The Tribunal has ancillary powers to grant stays/interim orders in appropriate cases (!) (!) . - Civil suits can be maintained only in narrow circumstances (e.g., English mortgages) and the Act overrides other laws (Section 35) (!) (!) (!) . - The judgment emphasizes need for fairness, communication of reasons for non-acceptance of objections, and internal mechanisms to resolve borrower objections before Section 13(4) measures [6000035280044][6000035280045][6000035280043]. - The transfer cases partly allowed; the judgment upholds validity of Act subject to modifications, except Section 17(2) deposit provision which is struck down [6000035280081][6000035280082].

What is the validity of imposing a deposit of 75% of the claimed amount before filing an appeal under Section 17 of the Act?

What is the extent of civil court jurisdiction and the keep-out under Section 34 in relation to measures taken under Section 13(4) of the Act?

What safeguards and adjudicatory mechanisms does the Act provide for borrowers before and after actions under Section 13(2)/(4), including objections, notices, and appeals?