Widow And Sons Get 15-Day Protection From Possession Action While Seeking Urgent DRT Hearing: Chhattisgarh HC

The petitioners challenged the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kawardha’s ex parte order dated 11 September 2026 under Section 14 of the SARFAESI Act, 2002, directing delivery of possession of the secured asset to the respondent-finance company.

They submitted that they had filed a securitisation appeal, Diary No. 3639/2026, but it and their application for interim relief had not been heard because of difficulties in the functioning of the Debts Recovery Tribunal; matters relating to DRT Jabalpur were being dealt with by DRT Ahmedabad.

They sought protection against coercive steps pending consideration of the appeal and interim application.

The proceedings arose from an application under Section 14 of the SARFAESI Act, 2002, pursuant to which the Chief Judicial Magistrate had directed delivery of possession of the secured asset.

The Court proceeded on the basis that the pending securitisation appeal and application for interim relief were matters for the competent Tribunal to consider; it expressed no view on the merits of the appeal and directed that the Tribunal consider the applications in accordance with law.

Since the petitioners’ securitisation appeal and interim-relief application were already pending before the competent Tribunal, the Court considered it appropriate for them to seek an urgent hearing there rather than determine the merits of the dispute in the writ petition.

In view of the stated difficulty in securing a hearing and the circumstances of the case, it granted temporary protection against coercive steps to allow the petitioners time to approach the Tribunal.

The respondents were directed not to take coercive steps against the petitioners for 15 days from the date of the order.

The Court clarified that it had expressed no opinion on the merits and left consideration of the urgent-hearing and interim-relief applications to the Tribunal in accordance with law.