The Act provides an adequate and efficacious remedy for obtaining relief in respect of any improper order passed by the Debt Recovery Tribunal.

( 1 ) BY this writ petition under Article 227 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner seeks quashing of the order dated 24. 5. 96 passed by Debt Recovery Tribunal refusing to stay the proceedings initiated by the respondentbank under Section 19 of the Recovery of Debts Due to Banks and Financial Institutions Act, 1993 (for short the Act ).

( 2 ) LEARNED Counsel for the respondent has raised a preliminary objection with regard to maintainability of the writ petition on the ground that an adequate and efficacious remedy is available to the petitioner under Section 20 of the Act. It is undisputed that the Appellate Tribunal has since been constituted. Inevitably, the issue here has to run around the language of the statute and, therefore, the provisions of the Section 17 of the Act maybe read at the very outset. Section 17 reads as under:

"jurisdiction, powers and authority of Tribunals.- (1) A 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 such Banks and financial institutions. (2) An Appellate Tribunal shall exercise, on and from the appointed day, the jurisdiction, powers and authority to entertain appeals against any order made, or deemed to have been made, by a Tribunal under this Act. "

( 3 ) SECTION 19 of the Act, deals with the filing of an application before the Tribunal and Sub-section (4), of Section 19 of this Act empowers the Tribunal to pass such orders on the application filed under Section 19 as it thinks fit to meet the ends of justice, under Sub-section (6) of Section 19, the Tribunal may pass interlocutory orders in a pending proceedings. Section 20 of the Act, gives a right of appeal to the Appellate Tribunal from an order of the Tribunal made under the Act. Section 20 reads as follows :

"appeal to the Appellate Tribunal.- (1) Save as provided in Sub-section (2), any person aggrieved by an order made, or deemed to have been made, by a Tribunal under this Act, may prefer an appeal to an Appellate Tribunal having jurisdiction in the matter. (2) No appeal shall lie to the Appellate Tribunal from an order made by a Tribunal with the consent of the parties. (3) Every appeal under Sub-section (1) shall be filed within a period of fortyfive days from the date on which a copy of the order made, or deemed to have been made, by the Tribunal is received by him and it shall be in such form and be accompanied by such fee as may be prescribed; Provided that the Appellate Tribunal may entertain an appeal after the expiry of the said period of forty-five days if it is satisfied that there was sufficient cause for not filing it within that period. (4)On receipt of an appeal under Sub-section (l),the Appellate Tribunalmay, after giving the parties to the appeal, an opportunity of being heard, pass such orders thereon as it thinks fit, confirming, modifying or setting-aside the order appealed against. (5) The Appellate Tribunal shall send a copy of every order made by it to the parties to the appeal and to the concerned Tribunal. (6) The appeal filed before the Appellate Tribunal under Sub-section (1) shall be dealt with by it as expeditiously as possible and endeavour shall be made by it to dispose of the appeal finally within six months from the date of receipt of the appeal. "

( 4 ) THE object of Section 20 is to give a right of appeal to a party aggrieved by some order which affects his right or liability. It is significant that Sub-section (2) of Section 17 empowers the Appellate Tribunal to entertain appeals against "any order" made or deemed to have been made by the Tribunal under the Act. Section 20 gives a right of appeal to a party aggrieved by "an order" made or deemed to have been made by the Tribunal under the Act. In the context of Sections 17 (2) and20 (l), the words "any order" or "an order" of the Tribunal made under the Act, include every o