JUDGMENT

This writ petition is filed by M/s. M.D.Esthappan Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd and M.D. Esthappan contending that they are a duly registered Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (hereinafter MSME) under the Micro Small Medium Enterprises Development Act , 2006 (hereinafter MSMED Act), and hence entitled to the protection of the revival and rehabilitation framework notified by the Central Government through Notification dated 29.05.2015. They submit that the said framework, having statutory force, obliges all banks and financial institutions to refer stressed MSME accounts to a Committee for corrective measures— rectification, restructuring, and only thereafter recovery.

2. It is contended that the respondent Bank, in gross violation of this mandatory framework, classified the petitioners’ account as a Non- Performing Asset (NPA) and initiated coercive steps under the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act (hereinafter referred to as 'the SARFAESI Act') without first constituting or referring the matter to the Committee for Stressed MSMEs. The petitioners submit that such action is illegal, arbitrary, and void ab initio, as t