On Tuesday, the Supreme Court held that the entire amount of pre-deposit for filing appeal in DRAT (Debt Recovery Appellate Tribunal) u/s 21 of the Recovery of Debts and Bankruptcy Act is not allowed.
A Bench of Hon’ble Chief Justice SA Bobde, Hon’ble Justice A S Bopanna and Hon’ble Justice V Ramasubramanian observed that for filing an Appeal before the DRAT 50% of the decretal amount has to be deposited, however in appropriate cases, the Tribunal can allow deposit of 25% also.
The Supreme Court observed aforesaid, while setting aside the Judgment of Delhi High Court allowing hearing of appeal without pre deposit before the Tribunal.
Hon’ble Bench referred to the Section 21, which mandates that appeal shall not be entertained unless 50% of the decretal amount is deposited, therefore the provision is mandatory and cannot be relaxed by court. The only relaxation is upto 25% pre-deposit which can be allowed by Tribunal in appropriate cases. But under no circumstances entire amount of predepsit can be waived off.
Considering the facts of the case the Supreme Court allowed 25% pre-deposit in the present case.
Case Details:
Title: Kotak Mahindra Bank Pvt. Limited vs. Ambuj A. Kasliwal
Case No.: CIVIL APPEAL NO. 538 OF 2021
Coram: Hon’ble Chief Justice SA Bobde, Hon’ble Justice A S Bopanna and Hon’ble Justice V Ramasubramanian
Date of Judgment- 16.02.2021
