SARFAESI recovery can proceed despite pending DRT proceedings where the statutory notice requirement is satisfied.

A secured creditor may proceed under the SARFAESI Act even while recovery proceedings are pending before the Debts Recovery Tribunal, because the Act permits enforcement of secured interests without court or tribunal intervention and gives overriding effect to inconsistent laws. Service of notice under Section 13(2) is the statutory prerequisite for action under the Act. The pendency of an original application before the DRT does not bar recourse to SARFAESI, and the bank was entitled to invoke the Act notwithstanding the pending proceedings. The earlier Full Bench ruling under a different statutory scheme was inapplicable because that scheme involved distinct alternative recovery methods not present in SARFAESI.

---

---

Issues: Whether the secured creditor could invoke the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002 despite the pendency of recovery proceedings before the Debts Recovery Tribunal.

Analysis: The notice under Section 13(2) of the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002 is the statutory prerequisite for action under the Act. The pendency of an original application before the Debts Recovery Tribunal does not bar recourse to the Act, because Section 35 gives the Act overriding effect over inconsistent laws and Section 13(1) permits recovery of the secured interest without court or tribunal intervention. The earlier Full Bench ruling concerning a different statutory scheme was held inapplicable because the State Financial Corporations Act provided distinct alternative methods of recovery, whereas the SARFAESI Act does not.

Conclusion: The bank was entitled to proceed under the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002 notwithstanding the pending recovery proceedings.

---