Civil court jurisdiction under SARFAESI remains open for declaratory reliefs outside the tribunal's statutory domain.

Section 34 of SARFAESI bars civil court jurisdiction only for matters the DRT or Appellate Tribunal is empowered to decide, including action already taken or lawfully capable of being taken within limitation. It cannot be used to create an open-ended future bar against civil claims. As the suit sought declaratory reliefs relating to delayed registration of title documents and consequences flowing from the sale certificate and sale deed, those claims fell outside the SARFAESI adjudicatory domain. The civil court therefore retained jurisdiction, and the suit was maintainable.

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Issues: Whether the civil suit seeking declaratory reliefs arising out of the sale certificate and sale deed was barred by Section 34 of the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002, and whether the suit was maintainable before the civil court.

Analysis: The bar under Section 34 operates only where the matter is one that a Debts Recovery Tribunal or Appellate Tribunal is empowered to determine under the SARFAESI framework. The protection extends to action already taken and to action lawfully capable of being taken under the Act, but it cannot be read as conferring an unlimited future right to initiate proceedings irrespective of limitation. The scheme of Sections 13, 17 and 36 shows that the statutory remedy before the tribunal arises only after the secured creditor initiates measures under Section 13 and, in any event, within the period of limitation. The reliefs claimed in the suit concerned the consequences of delayed registration of title documents and related declaratory reliefs, which were outside the adjudicatory domain of the SARFAESI Act and the recovery statute.

Conclusion: The civil court's jurisdiction was not barred, and the suit was maintainable.

Final Conclusion: The appeal failed because the respondents were entitled to pursue civil remedies for reliefs not covered by the special recovery statutes, and the secured creditor could not rely on an unexercised or time-barred future action to defeat the suit.

Ratio Decidendi: Section 34 bars civil court jurisdiction only in respect of matters actually within the tribunal's statutory domain or in respect of lawful action already taken or capable of being taken within limitation; civil claims lying outside that domain remain maintainable.

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