Be proactive in relocating Debt Recovery Tribunal: HC to Centre
THE HIGH COURT ASKED THE CENTRE TO INFORM IT BY MONDAY OF THE SPACE IT HAS FINALISED FOR DRT TO START OPERATIONS
MUMBAI :The Bombay high court has chided the Union of India for not being able to provide the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) an alternate place in south Mumbai to carry out its operations that have been suspended since June 1. It has asked the Centre to be “more proactive” and inform the court by Monday of the space it has finalised for DRT to start its operations.
The operations of DRT, which had its office in Scindia House, had to be suspended after a fire gutted the building on June 1. After this, the tribunal has not been able to carry out its functions as no alternate place has been provided for the same. The court’s anger was aroused after the DRT Bar Association, Mumbai filed a writ petition and complained that while the Income Tax offices that were also affected by the fire in Scindia House had already been provided alternate office space, the DRT was yet to be relocated.
A division bench of justices Abhay Oka and Riyaz Chagla was informed that as the Income Tax office was generating revenue they were provided an alternate premise to continue its operations, but the DRT was yet to be assigned one. Senior advocate Milind Sathe appearing for the association alleged that despite repeated follow-ups with authorities concerned and passage of two months, their requests had fallen on deaf ears.
Advocate Rui Rodrigues appearing for the Union of India, however, assured the court that the Union had received proposals for relocating the DRT and the same was being considered by the authorities and needed some more time to finalise the location.
After hearing the submissions, the bench observed, “We are being patient and can provide more time, but in the meanwhile the debtors will have a field day. We expect the Union to be more proactive in this regard and inform the court of the space it has finalised for DRT to start its operations by Monday.”