Vinod Kumar Sharma v. Punjab National Bank

1. The present petition seems to have been filed under Article 227 of the Constitution of India for the reason that at the relevant time, the learned Debt Recovery Appellate Tribunal was not functional on account of intervening summer-break.

2. Learned counsel for petitioner submits that since learned Debt Recovery Appellate Tribunal is now functional, he would file appropriate appeal before the learned Debt Recovery Appellate Tribunal. He, however, submits that in order to enable him to do the needful, the petitioner may be given interim protection so that in the interregnum, Respondent-bank does not proceed further with the matter taking recourse to Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act,

2002.

3. Learned counsel for Respondent-bank has joined the proceedings CM(M) 1155/2025 2 through videoconferencing.

4. The present petition is disposed of with liberty to petitioner to invoke the jurisdiction of learned Debt Recovery Appellate Tribunal within ten days from today. Respondent-bank shall not take any further precipitative step for a period of ten days from today.

5. This Court, however, clarifies that there is no observation on the merits of the case as such and the aforesaid interim protection has, merely, been granted so that the petitioner is in a position to invoke the jurisdiction of learned Debt Recovery Appellate Tribunal.

6. Pending applications also stand disposed of in the aforesaid terms.

JUDGE JULY 7, 2025/dr/shs