Compliance with statutory notice requirements is imperative in mortgage auctions; failures may invalidate the sale, preserving the mortgagor's right of redemption until formal sale registration.

1. Challenging the order passed by the Debt Recovery Appellate Tribunal, Chennai, in RA(SA) 78 of 2012 dated 30.01.2017, the petitioner has filed this Writ Petition.

2. Brief facts of the case of the petitioner as averred in the Writ Petition are as follows: -

(i) The petitioner is an 83 - year old lady, who stood as a guarantor to the facilities extended to his son's company viz., Space Mount Inc. Bangalore, for which, her residential property at Salem was given as a security. Since her son and daughter - in - law met with an accident and hospitalised for three months, the business failed and they could not repay the dues to the Bank as per the terms and conditions. Classifying the loan account as NPA, the respondent bank issued a notice under S.13(2) of the SARFAESI Act demanding a sum of Rs.16,73,211.36.

(ii) The petitioner gave a proposal dated 07.11.2006 and offered to make payment of Rs.12 lakhs, but the bank vide letter dated 28.03.2007, agreed to accept, a sum of Rs.15.25 lakhs in full, and release the documents, without any stipulation of time, for making payment towards the loan account. In the mean time, the bank took possession of the property on 27.02.2007 and published possession notice on 25.06.2007 in English paper as well as Vernacular newspaper.

(iii) After the possession notice, the petitioner started to make payment and paid a sum of Rs.1,00,000/- on 03.12.2007, Rs.1,00,000/- on 08.12.2007 and Rs.5,00,000/- on 28.12.2007 respectively and on 24.03.2008, the petitioner wrote to the bank and requested to accept the balance amount, under the OTS scheme and offered to pay interest, for the amount of Rs.15.25 lakhs. However, the bank replied that the property had already been auctioned for Rs.22 lakhs. Thereafter, on 04.04.2008, the petitioner paid the balance amount of Rs.8.25 lakhs towards full quit of the OTS, and also filed S.A.No.61 of 2008 before the Debt Recovery Tribunal, Coimbatore, challenging the sale conducted by the respondent bank.

(iv) In the mean time, the respondent bank obtained an order under S.14 of the SARFAESI Act 2002 to evict the petitioner from her property. The petitioner approached this Court in W.P.No.10912 of 2008, in which an interim order was passed on 29.04.2008 directing the petitioner to deposit a sum of Rs.1.50 lakhs by 09.06.2008, towards interest, for the delayed period of payment of OTS, and the balance interest, upto the end of April 2008. Accordingly, the petitioner has deposited a sum of Rs.1,60,972/- towards the aforesaid interest. Consequently, this Court remanded the matter back to the DRT, with an observation that the petitioner would not be dispossessed from the property, until the disposal of the Securitization Appeal, and also permitted the petitioner to raise all the grounds available to challenge the sale.

(v) The petitioner contested the matter before the Debt Recovery Tribunal, Madurai, by pointing out several infirmities on the part of the respondent bank, in conducting the proceedings under the SARFAESI Act , both as regards possession and the way in which, the sale was conducted, with infirmities. The petitioner also challenged the action of the respondent bank in issuing the possession notice and sale notice, by raising the following additiona