The main legal point established in the judgment is the mandatory requirement for the District Magistrate or Chief Metropolitan Magistrate to pass suitable orders for taking possession of secured assets within a specified period as mandated by Section 14 of the SARFAESI Act, 2002.

S. MANIKUMAR, J.

State Bank of India, (Retail Assets Central Processing Centre), Chennai, represented by its Chief Manager, has submitted an application under Section 14 of the SARFAESI Act, 2002, seeking assistance from District Magistrate-cum-District Collector, Thiruvallur District. Though the said application has been taken on file in C.M.P.No.12432/2017/M2, by the 1st respondent, the same is pending from nearly 13 months. Hence, petitioner has filed the instant writ petition, for Mandamus, directing the said Authority to pass orders.

2. Record of proceedings, shows that on 27.07.2018, a Hon'ble Division Bench of this court, has ordered notice to the respondents, returnable in one week. Respondent No. 2, is the borrower.

3. Ms. S.R. Sumathy, learned counsel for the petitioner, submitted that the second respondent could not be served and accordingly, an affidavit has been filed.

4. Mr. Kamalesh Kannan, learned Government Advocate, submitted that appropriate orders would be passed on the application filed under Section 14 of the SARFAESI Act, 2002. He prayed for four weeks time.

5. Though a Hon'ble Division Bench of this Court has ordered notice to the respondent No.2, and the same is yet to be served, we are of the view that, respondent No.2, is not required to be heard, while issuing a direction to the District Magistrate-cum-District Collector, Thiruvallur District, to discharge his statutory duty, under Section 14 of the SARFAESI Act, 2002. Therefore, fresh notice to the respondent No. 2, is waived.

6. Heard the learned counsel appearing for the parties and perused the materials available on record.

7. Section 14 of the SARFAESI Act, 2002 mandates that on receipt of an affidavit from the Authorised Officer, the District Magistrate or the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, as the case may be, shall after satisfying the contents of the affidavit, pass suitable orders for the purpose of taking possession of the secured assets, within a period of 30 days from the date of application. Proviso to the said Section states that if no order is passed by the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate or District Magistrate, within the said period of thirty days, for the reasons beyond his control, he may after recording reasons, in writing, for the same, pass the order within such period but not exceeding in aggregate 60 days.

8. The Principal Secretary to Government, vide, Letter No. 19498/Res.II/2014-1, dated 09.07.2014, has issued directions, stating that there should be speedy disposal of the application filed under Section 14 of the SARFAESI Act. The said letter is extracted hereunder:-

“I am to invite your kind attention to the reference cited (copy enclosed) wherein the GM, SLBC, Chennai, has requested to advise the District Collectors (District Magistrates) for speedy disposal of applications filed by banks to assist in taking possession of securities of the defaulters charged to the banks under Section 14 of SARFAESI Act, 2002.

2. In this connection, I am to request you to take necessary action for speedy disposal of the applications filed by the banks in taking possession of securities of the defaulters charged to the banks under Section 14 of SARFAESI Act, 2002, without affecting the image of the administration.”

9. Following the said letter, in W.P. No. 7813 of 2016, dated 22.04.2016, a Hon'ble Division Bench of this Court, has passed the following order:-

“In the light of the above, we direct the District Collector (District Magistrate), Thanjavur District, to pass orders on the Application dated 18/8/2015 in file Ref.No.34810/2015, filed under Section 14 of the SARFAESI Act, within the period of two months from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. While doing so, procedure set out under Section 14 of the Act should be followed. Mr. B.Kumar, learned Government Advocate is directed to forward the copy of this order to the Principal Secretary to Government, Finance (Res. II), Department, Chennai for appropriate follow up action. Along