A miscellaneous case for setting aside an ex parte decree is not transferable to the Debts Recovery Tribunal under Sec. 31 of the Recovery of Debts Due to Banks and Financial Institutions Act, 1993, because it is not a suit or proceeding for recovery of debt.

Sachidanand Jha, J.

1. This civil revision by the defendant-applicant of the miscellaneous case, is directed against an order by which the court below has transferred the miscellaneous case under Order 9, Rule 13 of the Code of Civil Procedure to the Debts Recovery Tribunal ("the Tribunal", in short) in view of the provisions of the Recovery of Debts Due to Banks and Financial Institutions Act, 1993. It is not necessary to notice the facts of the case, except to mention that the opposite party-State Bank of India filed Money Suit No. 14 of 1990 in the court of the first Subordinate Judge, Begusarai, which was decreed ex parte against the petitioner on September 30, 1992. The petitioner filed Miscellaneous Case No. 25 of 1993 for setting aside the ex parte decree on September 4, 1993. An application was made by the opposite party-bank to transfer the miscellaneous case to the Tribunal established under the said Act on the ground that in terms of Sec. 17 of the Act it is the Tribunal alone which has jurisdiction to entertain a suit filed on behalf of the banks or financial institutions. The said application has been allowed by the impugned order.

2. The submission of counsel for the petitioner is that the provisions of the Act are applicable to suits or proceedings at the instance of banks and financial institutions. The present proceeding in the miscellaneous case not being at the instance of either a bank or financial institution, it does not come within the purview of the Act.

3. The provision regarding transfer of suits and proceedings is contained in Sec. 31 of the Act. The only point for consideration is whether a miscellaneous case for setting aside the ex parte decree comes within the purview of Sec. 31 or not.

4. Sec. 17 of the Act lays down that the Tribunal shall exercise, on and from the appointed day, the jurisdiction, powers and authority to entertain and decide applications from the banks and financial institutions for recovery of debts due to them. Sec. 18 lays down that, on and from the appointed day, no court or other authority shall have, or be entitled to exercise any jurisdiction, powers or authority in relation to the matters specified in Sec. 17. (This provision is not to apply to the Supreme Court or the High Courts exercising jurisdiction under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India). Sec. 31 provides for transfer of cases pending before the court to the Tribunal. In view of the point involved, it would be apposite to notice the provisions of Sec. 31, so far as relevant, as follows :

"Every suit or other proceeding pending before any court immediately before the date of establishment of a Tribunal under this Act, being a suit or proceeding the cause of action whereon it is based is such that it would have been, if it had arisen after such establishment, within the jurisdiction of such Tribunal, shall stand transferred on that date to such Tribunal."

5. Stated -in plain words, this section lays down that if the suit or proceeding is founded on a cause of action which falls under the jurisdiction of the Tribunal, the same would stand transferred to it. Section SI, in a sense, is to be understood as complementary to Secs. 17 and 18 which create jurisdiction in the Tribunal and bar the jurisdiction of the court or other authorities so as to confer total jurisdiction on the Tribunal with respect to future as well as pending suits and proceedings.

6. There cannot be any doubt, in view of the aims and objects of the Act and the express provisions thereof, that it is only suits or proceedings by the banks and financial institutions which are to be entertained and decided by the Tribunal and, therefore, it is only such suits or proceedings pending before the courts or other authorities which are to be transferred to the Tribunal. The Act contains provisions regarding appeals from such suits which may be pending before any court on the appointed day, The proviso to Sec. 31 lays down that the pro