Jurisdictional bar under debt recovery law starts only when the Tribunal is established, not when the Act comes into force.

The jurisdictional bar under section 18 of the Recovery of Debts Due to Banks and Financial Institutions Act, 1993 begins only on the appointed day, meaning the date the Tribunal is actually established under section 3, not the date the Act comes into force. Because the civil court order was made before the Tribunal was established, section 18 did not yet exclude civil court jurisdiction, and the order was not without jurisdiction on that ground. Section 31 further indicates that pending cases may be transferred to the Tribunal, which may proceed from the stage already reached or an earlier stage as appropriate.

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Issues: Whether the bar of jurisdiction under section 18 of the Recovery of Debts Due to Banks and Financial Institutions Act, 1993 operated against the civil court order passed after the Act came into force but before the Tribunal was established, and whether the impugned order was therefore without jurisdiction.

Analysis: Section 18 excludes the jurisdiction of courts and authorities only "on and from the appointed day". Section 2(c) defines the appointed day, in relation to a Tribunal, as the date on which the Tribunal is established under section 3. The crucial date was therefore not the date on which the Act came into force, but the date on which the Tribunal was actually established. Since the civil court's order was passed before the Tribunal was established, the jurisdictional bar under section 18 had not yet commenced. Section 31 also contemplates transfer of pending cases to the Tribunal, which then proceeds from the stage reached before transfer or from an earlier stage as it may deem fit.

Conclusion: The civil court order was not jurisdiction under section 18, and the challenge to it on that ground failed.

Ratio Decidendi: Under the Recovery of Debts Due to Banks and Financial Institutions Act, 1993, the bar of jurisdiction under section 18 begins only from the date the Tribunal is established, not from the date the Act comes into force.

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