Debt assignment under SARFAESI can proceed separately from sale measures, despite pending tribunal proceedings.

A secured creditor may, after taking measures under Section 13(4) of the SARFAESI Act, separately assign the debt under Section 5 even while proceedings before the Debt Recovery Tribunal are pending. The debt-assignment notice is distinct from a sale of the secured asset; assignment is an independent commercial transfer in which the transferee steps into the creditor's shoes and the borrower's liability remains unchanged. Pending challenge to a sale notice before the Tribunal does not bar this separate exercise of transfer rights, and the assignment price is a matter for the secured creditor. The writ challenge to the assignment notice was rejected.

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Issues: Whether a secured creditor, after taking measures under Section 13(4) of the Securitization and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002, can separately proceed to assign the debt under Section 5 of that Act notwithstanding pendency of proceedings before the Debt Recovery Tribunal.

Analysis: Section 13(4) permits the secured creditor to take one or more measures for recovery, including transfer by way of lease, assignment or sale of the secured asset. The impugned notice was not a sale of the borrower's secured asset but an invitation for assignment of debt, which is a transaction independent of the sale process. The assignment of debt does not alter the borrower's liability and the transferee steps into the shoes of the transferor. Pendency of a challenge to the sale notice before the Debt Recovery Tribunal does not bar a separate exercise of the creditor's right to transfer debt, and the pricing of such assignment is a commercial matter for the secured creditor.

Conclusion: The challenge to the debt-assignment notice was held to be without merit and the writ petition failed.

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