Limited Section 14 power under SARFAESI cannot reopen asset classification or review a final assistance order.

Power under section 14 of the SARFAESI Act is limited to assisting the secured creditor in taking possession after verifying service of the section 13(2) notice and jurisdictional facts; it does not authorise adjudication of rival claims or the nature of the secured asset. Agricultural land exclusion under section 31(i) must be raised before the appropriate forum under the Act, not in section 14 proceedings. Once an assistance order is made, the Magistrate becomes functus officio on that issue, and section 21 of the General Clauses Act cannot be used to review, modify, or rescind it. The impugned cancellation order was therefore quashed.

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Issues: Whether the District Magistrate acting under section 14 of the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002 had jurisdiction to reconsider an earlier assistance order and decide whether the secured properties were agricultural lands excluded by section 31(i) of the Act, and whether section 21 of the General Clauses Act, 1897 could be invoked to review or rescind the earlier order.

Analysis: The power under section 14 is confined to assisting the secured creditor in taking possession of secured assets after verifying that the section 13(2) notice was issued and that the assets fall within jurisdiction. It does not confer authority to adjudicate disputes regarding the nature of the secured asset or other rival claims. The statutory scheme gives finality to the act done under section 14, and once that power is exercised the Magistrate becomes functus officio in relation to the same issue. The exclusion of agricultural land under section 31(i) is a matter for the appropriate forum under the Act and not for the Magistrate in section 14 proceedings. Section 21 of the General Clauses Act cannot enlarge the limited and final power created by section 14 so as to permit review, modification, or rescission of the earlier order.

Conclusion: The impugned order was without jurisdiction and unsustainable; the petitioner was entitled to relief.

Final Conclusion: The order directing cancellation of the auction and return of possession of the disputed lands was quashed, and the secured creditor's action under the SARFAESI Act was restored to its lawful course.

Ratio Decidendi: An authority exercising power under section 14 of the SARFAESI Act performs a limited ministerial function and cannot adjudicate disputes on the secured asset's character or reopen a final assistance order by resort to section 21 of the General Clauses Act.

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