Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT)
Recently, the government has constituted special benches in 3 Debt Recovery Tribunals (DRTs) to resolve cases of more than Rs 100 crore.
The government has constituted these special benches in the DRTs of Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi.
Banks have been demanding for a long time to focus more on cases involving large sums of money. It is in this context that these benches have been constituted.
Significance of this step-
- The number of cases involving large sums of money is estimated to be only 1%, but by amount, they account for 80% of the total claims.
- At present, many privately owned companies in India are registered as partnerships or family entities.
- They cannot be prosecuted in the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). The reason for this is that only cases related to companies are heard in NCLT.
- Apart from this, as per RBI data till March 2021, there were pending cases related to loans of Rs 2.25 lakh crore in DRIs.
DRTs
- The Recovery and Bankruptcy of Debts (RDB Act), 1993, provides for the establishment of DRTs having original jurisdiction and Debts Recovery Appellate Tribunals (DRATs) having appellate jurisdiction.
- The purpose of these tribunals is to give speedy decisions on the outstanding loans of banks and financial institutions and to get them recovered.
- They also hear cases filed under the Securitization and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest (SARFAESI) Act, 2002.
- Presently, 39 DRTS and 5 DRATS are functioning across the country.
Source – The Hindu
