DRT Not Able To Focus On High-Value Cases: Raj HC Upholds Centre's Notification Raising Pecuniary Limit To Rs 20L [Read Judgment]

Observing that "small value cases" were not allowing the Debt Recovery Tribunals focus on "high-value cases" which would have otherwise led to significant recovery of public money, the Rajasthan High Court has upheld Centre's notification raising the threshold pecuniary limit for filing application for recovery of debts before the Debt Recovery Tribunal from Rs 10 Lakh to Rs 20 Lakh.. Observing that "small value cases" were not allowing the Debt Recovery Tribunals focus on "high-value cases" which would have otherwise led to significant recovery of public money, the Rajasthan High Court has upheld Centre's notification raising the threshold pecuniary limit for filing application for recovery of debts before the Debt Recovery Tribunal from Rs 10 Lakh to Rs 20 Lakh. The court said so as it dismissed a plea challenging the notification dated September 6, 2018 by the Centre Ministry of Finance issued under Section 1 of the Recovery of Debts due to Banks and Financial Institutions Act, 1993 thereby raising the threshold pecuniary limit for filing application for recovery of debts before the Debt Recovery Tribunal from Rs 10 Lakh to Rs 20 Lakh. He further informed the court that even the chairpersons of various debt recovery tribunals in an interactive session held in Department of Financial Services on July 17, 2018 pointed out the necessity of raising the minimum pecuniary limit and that large number of cases for recovery in the segment of Rs 10-20 lakh coming up before the Tribunal was hampering the progress of cases valued over Rs 20 lakh.