Tamil Nadu   

Debts Recovery Tribunals mop up crores

By A. Subramani

CHENNAI, SEPT. 12. What can be achieved by `humanising law' and simplifying the cumbersome court procedures? Rs. 1,500 crores.

That is what three Debts Recovery Tribunals in Tamil Nadu got in return for their practical and principle of natural justice-centric approach while dealing with banks and defaulters.

DRT-I, the first for a unified territory of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Pondicherry, came up in Chennai in October 1996, three years after the Recovery of Debts Due to Banks and Financial Institutions Act was legislated. After several rounds of litigation and initial functional hiccups, the Act was validated by the Supreme Court in 2002.

But by then the DRTs grew in numbers. While one tribunal came up in Ernakulam in 1998, DRT-II in Chennai and one in Coimbatore were established in Tamil Nadu. DRT-I alone is responsible for the recovery of over Rs. 1,025 crores. The achievement is considered significant because over 4,000 cases disposed of for recovering the amount involved a suit claim of Rs. 2,850 crores. While Rs. 130 crores was recovered through public auction of about 500 pieces of mortgaged property, the rest came through compromise settlements. That is the reason why very few appeals are being filed in the Debts Recovery Appellate Tribunal in this part of the country, says Harihar P. Chaturvedi, Presiding Officer of the DRT-I. The secret lay in giving all possible importance and assistance to the "bonafide defaulter", for he is honest and keen on a reasonable settlement, he says. His words command attention because he is a man responsible for the recovery of over Rs. 850 crores.

"Procedure is out, and only the principle of natural justice is the guiding principle," says A. Vijayakumar, Presiding Officer of DRT-II.

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