STANDARD CHARTERED BANKversusMSTC LIMITED

444                       [2020]
               SUPREME COURT     2 S.C.R. 444
                              REPORTS                       [2020] 2 S.C.R.


A                     STANDARD CHARTERED BANK
                                        v.
                                MSTC LIMITED
                          (Civil Appeal No. 501 of 2020)
B                              JANUARY 21, 2020
          [R.F. NARIMAN AND V. RAMASUBRAMANIAN, JJ.]

             Recovery of Debts and Bankruptcy Act, 1993 – ss. 19, 20, 21
      and 22 – Debts Recovery Tribunal (Procedure) Rules, 1993 – r.5A
C     – Application for review – Appellant-Bank filed an application u/s.
      19 of the RDB Act for recovery of a sum of Rs.191,03,54,070.96/- –
      An I.A. was filed by the appellant stating that given the admissions
      contained in the balance of the relevant years of the respondent-
      Company, a sum of Rs. 222,51,00,000/- was owed by the respondent
      – The said I.A. was allowed by DRT – The respondent filed an appeal
D
      against the said order before the DRAT – While pending appeal, a
      review application was filed by the respondent before the DRT –
      Thereafter, the appeal filed earlier was withdrawn – Meanwhile,
      an application was filed to condone a delay of 28 days in filing the
      review petition before the DRT – Application was dismissed by the
E     DRT – Writ Petition – The High Court held that no appeal would be
      maintainable against the dismissal of the review petition and that
      therefore, a writ petition would be maintainable – The High Court
      also held that application u/s. 19 of the RDB Act would subsume an
      application for review as a review application would originate from
      an order passed u/s.19 , as per procedure prescribed u/s. 22 of the
F
      RDB Act, and would therefore not be an application which could
      be said to be independent of s. 19 of the Act – This being the case,
      the High Court condoned the delay and set aside the judgment of
      the DRT – On appeal, held: The judgment of the Supreme Court in
      International Asset Reconstruction Company of India Limited makes
G     it plain, though in a slightly different context, that only application
      that is referred to by s. 24 of the RDB Act is an application filed u/
      s. 19 and no other – This being the case, an application for review,
      not being an application u/s. 19, but an application u/s. 22 (2) (e)


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                                       444
     STANDARD CHARTERED BANK v. MSTC LIMITED                            445


r/w. r. 5A of the Rules, this judgment would apply on all fours to      A
exclude applications which are review applications from the purview
of s. 24 of the RDB Act – The High Court also wrongly applied Or.
XLVII, r. 7 of the CPC – S. 22 (1) of the RDB Act makes it clear that
the Tribunal and the Appellate Tribunal shall not be bound by the
procedure laid down by the Code of Civil Procedure, making it clear
                                                                        B
that Or. XLVII, r. 7 would not apply to the Tribunal – Further, s. 20
applies to all applications that may be made, including applications
for review and orders being made therein subject to appeal – Also,
s. 34 of the Act makes it clear that 1993 Act, will have overriding
effect over any other law for the time being in force, which includes
the Code of Civil Procedure – The High Court was clearly in error       C
in holding that no appeal would be maintainable against the
dismissal of the review petition and that a writ petition would be
maintainable – Therefore, the judgment of the High Court cannot
be sustained and is set aside.

      Allowing the appeal, the Court                                    D

       HELD : 1. Rules 2(b) and 2(c) of the Debt Recovery
Tribunal (Procedure) Rules, 1993 define “applicant” and
“application”, respectively, as including applicants and
applications filed under Section 19, 31A of the Recovery of Debts
and Bankruptcy Act, 1993 as well as appeals filed under Section         E
30(1) of the Act. An application under Section 31A is an application
to enforce a decree or order passed by any court before the
commencement of the Amendment Act of 2000 and which has
not yet been executed. An appeal under Section 30(1) is an appeal
to the Tribunal against orders of the Recovery Officer made             F
under the Act. The reason why Rule 2(c) of the Rules defines
application as including an application under Section 31A and an
appeal filed under Section 31 of the Act, apart from applications
filed under Section 19, is because under Rule 4 of the Rules,
the procedure for filing such applications/appeal is under Forms
I to III appended to the Rules. What is important to note is that       G
even this extended definition,under the Rules, does not include
an application for review filed under Rule 5A of the Rules. In
point of fact, Rule 7 makes it abundantly clear that each such
application, including applications for review, are viewed
                                                                        H
446            SUPREME COURT REPORTS                      [2020] 2 S.C.R.


A     separately and independently, as fees payable for filing such
      applications are vastly different, as is clear from Rule 7(2) of the
      Rules. [Para 8][458-D-F]
            2. In fact, this Court in International Asset Reconstruction
      Company of India Limited had to consider whether Section 5 of
B     the Limitation Act can be invoked to condone delay in the filing
      of an appeal after the prescribed period of 30 days under Section
      30(1) of the RDB Act. The Court first stated, in paragraph 8,
      that the RDB Act is undoubtedly a special law and a complete
      code by itself with regard to expeditious recovery of dues to
      banks and financial institutions. After then noticing Section 22(1)
C     in paragraph 9 and stating that Section 5 of the Limitation Act
      cannot proprio vigore apply to a tribunal as a tribunal is not a
      Court. [Para 9][458G-H; 459A]
             3. The judgment of this Court makes it plain, though in a
      slightly different context, that the only application that is
D     referred to by Section 24 of the RDB Act is an application filed
      under Section 19 and no other. This being the case, an application
      for review, not being an application under Section 19, but an
      application under Section 22(2)(e) read with Rule 5A of the Rules,
      this judgment would apply on all fours to exclude applications
E     which are review applications from the purview of Section 24 of
      the RDB Act. [Para 10][461A-B]
            4. The peremptory language of Rule 5A would also make it
      clear that beyond 30 days there is no power to condone delay. It
      may also be noted that Rule 5A was added in 1997 with a
F     longer period within which to file a review petition, namely, 60
      days. This period was cut down, by amendment, with effect
      from 04.11.2016, to 30 days. From this two things are clear:
      one, whether in the original or unamended provision, there is no
      separate power to condone delay, as is contained in Section
      20(3) of the Act; and second, that the period of 60 days was
G     considered too long and cut down to 30 days thereby evincing an
      intention that review petitions, if they are to be filed, should be
      within a shorter period of limitation – otherwise they would not
      be maintainable. [Para 14][462C-D]

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        STANDARD CHARTERED BANK v. MSTC LIMITED                           447


      5. This Court is also of the view that the High Court wrongly       A
applied Order XLVII Rule 7 of the Code of Civil Procedure.
Section 22(1) of the Act makes it clear that the Tribunal and the
Appellate Tribunal shall not be bound by the procedure laid down
by the Code of Civil Procedure, making it clear thereby that
Order XLVII Rule 7 would not apply to the Tribunal. Also, in
                                                                          B
view of Section 20, which applies to all applications that may be
made, including applications for review, and orders being made
therein being subject to appeal, it is a little difficult to appreciate
how Order XLVII Rule 7 could apply at all, given that Section 20
of the RDB Act is part of a complete and exhaustive code.
Section 34 of the Act makes it clear that the 1993 Act, (and,             C
therefore, Section 20), will have overriding effect over any other
law for the time being in force, which includes the Code of Civil
Procedure. The High Court, in holding that no appeal would be
maintainable against the dismissal of the review petition, and
that therefore a writ petition would be maintainable, was clearly
                                                                          D
in error on this count also. [Paras 15 and 16][462E; 463B-D]
        International Asset Reconstruction Company of India
        Limited v. Official Liquidator of Aldrich
        Pharmaceuticals Limited and Others (2017) 16 SCC
        137 : (2017) 10 SCR 199 – relied on.
                                                                          E
        Kamlesh Verma v. Mayawati and Others (2013) 8 SCC
        320 : (2013) 11 SCR 25 – referred to.
                       Case Law Reference
(2017) 10 SCR 199               relied on                Para 2 (vii)
                                                                          F
(2013) 11 SCR 25                referred to              Para 3
        CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal No. 501 of
2020.
      From the Judgment and Order dated 03.05.2019 of the High Court
of Judicature at Bombay in Writ Petition No. 2765 of 2018.                G
      Neeraj Kishan Kaul, Sr. Adv., Tushad Cooper, Ms. Anushka Sharda,
Rohit Ghose, Ms. Smriti Nair, Varun Mathur, Akash Lamba, Divyanshu
Srivastava (for M/s. Khaitan & Co.), Advs. for the Appellant.

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448            SUPREME COURT REPORTS                           [2020] 2 S.C.R.


A           Tushar Mehta, SG, Amar Dave, Hemant Sharma, Ms. Anamika,
      Mrs. Indu Sharma, Advs. for the Respondent.
            The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
            R. F. NARIMAN, J.
B           1. Leave granted.
             2. The present appeal raises interesting questions which arise
      under the Recovery of Debts and Bankruptcy Act, 1993 (hereinafter
      referred to as “the RDB Act” or “the Act”). The brief facts necessary
      to appreciate the questions raised are as follows:-
C           (i) On 29.08.2008, a Receivables Purchase Agreement was
      executed between Standard Chartered Bank, which is the appellant
      before us and MSTC Limited, which is a Government Company-
      respondent herein, whereunder receivables from overseas buyers in
      respect of invoices raised by the respondent against foreign buyers
D     were purchased by the appellant. 95% of the amount raised by the
      invoices was remitted to the respondent.
             (ii) An Export Insurance Policy was obtained by these parties
      from ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company under which
      the Insurance Company agreed to indemnify the respondent and the
      appellant in the event of default in payment of foreign buyers.
E
            (iii) The appellant had lodged a claim with the said Insurance
      Company which, however, was repudiated on 03.03.2011. In this
      background, on 13.03.2012, the appellant filed an application under Section
      19 of the RDB Act being O.A. No. 43 of 2012 before the DRT,
      Mumbai for recovery of a sum of Rs.191,03,54,070.96.
F
            (iv) An I.A was then filed by the respondent before the DRT
      Mumbai, challenging its jurisdiction, which was ultimately disposed of
      on 26.09.2013 and an appeal therefrom was dismissed on 03.02.2017,
      holding that the DRT Mumbai did have territorial jurisdiction to go
      ahead with the case.
G
             (v) At this point, an I.A was filed by the appellant stating that
      given the admissions contained in the balance sheet of the relevant years
      of the respondent-Company, a sum of Rs. 222,51,00,000/- was owed
      by the respondent to the appellant. This I.A. was allowed by the DRT
      Mumbai on 26.10.2017.
H
      STANDARD CHARTERED BANK v. MSTC LIMITED                                   449
                 [R. F. NARIMAN, J.]

       (vi) An appeal was filed by the respondent-Company against               A
the said order before the DRAT on 14.11.2017. While the appeal was
pending, Review Application No. 1 of 2018 was filed on 18.12.2017
before the DRT by the respondent-Company after the appeal that was
lodged earlier in point of time was withdrawn by the respondent-Company
on 02.01.2018.
                                                                                B
      (vii) In the meanwhile, an application dated 16.02.2018 was made
to condone a 28 day delay in filing the review petition before the
DRT, the period of limitation under Rule 5A of the Debt Recovery Tribunal
(Procedure) Rules, 1993 (hereinafter referred to as “the Rules”)
being 30 days. This review petition was dismissed by the DRT on
21.04.2018, in which this Court’s judgment reported in International            C
Asset Reconstruction Company of India Limited vs. Official
Liquidator of Aldrich Pharmaceuticals Limited and Others, (2017)
16 SCC 137 was followed, and Section 5 of the Limitation Act, 1963
was held not to be applicable to review petitions that were filed under
Rule 5A of the Rules. A further plea to exclude time taken under                D
Section 14 of the Limitation Act, 1963 was also dismissed by the
DRT stating that a filing of the review petition after the appeal would
show that the appeal provision, which requires a minimum 25% deposit,
was sought to be circumvented, and, therefore, this being the case,
time taken under Section 14 cannot be excluded as the respondent-
Company did not move bona fide in the matter.                                   E

       (viii) From the order dated 21.4.2018, a writ petition was filed
before the Bombay High Court on 26.04.2018, which was then disposed
of by the impugned judgment on 03.05.2019, holding that the
alternative remedy of filing an appeal not being available, the writ petition
would be maintainable. In any case, the judgment of this Court in               F
International Asset Reconstruction Company of India Limited
(supra) was confined to consideration of Section 30 of the RDB Act,
and paragraph 14 of the said judgment would make it clear that it
would apply to the facts of this case inasmuch as an original application
made under Section 19 of the RDB Act, (which by the definition clause           G
under Section 2(b) applies only to applications made under Section
19 and to no others) would subsume an application for review as
a review application would originate from an order passed under Section
19 of the RDB Act, as per procedure prescribed under Section 22 of
the RDB Act, and would therefore not be an application which
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450            SUPREME COURT REPORTS                         [2020] 2 S.C.R.


A     could be said to be independent of Section 19 of the RDB Act. This
      being the case, the High Court set aside the judgment of the DRT,
      condoned the delay in filing of the review application itself, and
      restored the review application to the file.
              3. Mr. Neeraj Kishan Kaul, learned Senior Advocate appearing
B     on behalf of the appellant, has contended that the High Court is wrong
      on all counts. First and foremost, the High Court could not have
      looked at Order XLVII Rule 7 of the CPC in order to hold that an
      appeal from an order dismissing a review petition would not be
      maintainable before the DRAT both for the reason that Order 47
      Rule 7 itself is inapplicable under Section 22(1) of the RDB Act and for
C     the reason that Section 20 of the RDB Act makes it clear that appeals
      lie to the DRAT from all applications that may have been disposed of by
      the Tribunal under the RDB Act. He further argued that the judgment
      in International Asset Reconstruction Company of India Limited
      (supra) ought to have been applied correctly in that the ratio
D     decidendi of the judgment made it clear that it is only applications
      under Section 19 that are referred to in Section 24 of the RDB Act, and
      this being the case, a review application, being an independent
      proceeding, could not be subsumed within the expression
      “application” contained in Section 24 of the RDB Act. He also
      cited the judgment reported in Kamlesh Verma vs. Mayawati
E     and Others, (2013) 8 SCC 320 to buttress the submission that a review
      petition cannot be equated with the original proceeding. Further,
      contrasting Rule 5A of the Rules with Section 20 of the RDB Act, since
      peremptory language has been used in the said rule, making it clear
      that a review petition filed beyond 30 days would have to be dismissed,
F     coupled with the fact that no provision for condonation of delay, as in
      Section 20, is contained in Rule 5A would also make it clear that the
      impugned judgment has to be faulted on this ground as well.
             4. Mr. Amar Dave, learned Advocate appearing on behalf of
      the respondent, stoutly resisted each one of these contentions. First
G     and foremost, he asked us to consider the fact that the O.A. before the
      DRT was in 2012, and it is only after waiting for five years that a
      thoroughly frivolous application was taken out in 2017 for a judgment
      on admission. He also adverted to Section 19, in particular, sub-section
      (2) thereof, to argue that Section 19 is not exhaustive of the types
      of applications that can be made under the Act. He also strongly relied
H
      STANDARD CHARTERED BANK v. MSTC LIMITED                               451
                 [R. F. NARIMAN, J.]

upon the reasoning of the High Court judgment, and stated that Section      A
19 and 22 should be read together, as a review proceeding emanates
from the original proceeding and is really part and parcel of the
proceeding, and this being the case, Section 24 of the RDB Act would
apply Section 5 of the Limitation Act, 1963 to review proceedings as
well. He strongly relied upon paragraph 12, in particular, in
                                                                            B
International Asset Reconstruction Company of India Limited
(supra) to contend that there was a fundamental difference between
the facts in that judgment and the facts of the present case. The
difference is that in the earlier judgment, Section 30 pre and post
amendment was set out, and it was stated that an appeal that was
filed against the orders of recovery officers, which will be governed by    C
Section 30 of the RDB Act, would be appeals filed against a persona
designata who is not a tribunal, and this being the case, the second
sentence of paragraph 12 becomes very important, in which this Court
then states that had the recovery officer been held to be a tribunal, the
matter would have to be completely differently viewed. It was his
                                                                            D
case, therefore, that this judgment is wholly distinguishable. He also
supported the impugned judgment on maintainability of the Writ
Petition.
      5. Having heard learned counsel for both sides, it is necessary to
set out some of the provisions of the RDB Act and the Rules made
thereunder. Section 2(b) of the RDB Act states as follows:                  E

         “2. Definitions.-
         (b) “application” means an application made to a Tribunal
         under section 19;”
      Section 19 of the RDB Act states as follows:                          F
         “19. Application to the Tribunal. –
         (1) Where a bank or a financial institution has to recover
         any debt from any person, it may make an application to
         the Tribunal within the local limits of whose jurisdiction-
                                                                            G
         (a) the branch or any other office of the bank or financial
         institution is maintaining an account in which debt claimed is
         outstanding, for the time being; or


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452   SUPREME COURT REPORTS                            [2020] 2 S.C.R.


A     (aa) the defendant, or each of the defendants where there are
      more than one, at the time of making the application,
      actually and voluntarily resides or carries on business, or
      personally works for gain; or
      (b) any of the defendants, where there are more than one, at
B     the time of making the application, actually and voluntarily
      resides or carries on business, or personally works for gain;
      or
      (c) the cause of action, wholly or in part, arises xxx xxx xxx
      (2) Where a bank or a financial institution, which has to recover
C     its debt from any person, has filed an application to the
      Tribunal under sub-section (1) and against the same person
      another bank or financial institution also has claim to recover
      its debt, then, the later bank or financial institution may join the
      applicant bank or financial institution at any stage of the
D     proceedings, before the final order is passed, by making an
      application to that Tribunal.
      xxx xxx xxx
      (5) (i) the defendant shall within a period of thirty days from
      the date of service of summons, present a written statement
E     of his defence including claim for set-off under sub-section
      (6) or a counter-claim under sub-section (8), if any, and
      such written statement shall be accompanied with original
      documents or true copies thereof with the leave of the Tribunal,
      relied on by the defendant in his defence:
F     Provided that where the defendant fails to file the written
      statement within the said period of thirty days, the Presiding
      Officer may, in exceptional cases and in special circumstances
      to be recorded in writing, extend the said period by such
      further period not exceeding fifteen days to file the written
      statement of his defence;
G
      xxx xxx xxx
      (18) Where it appears to the Tribunal to be just and
      convenient, the Tribunal may, by order—
      (a) appoint a receiver of any property, whether before or after
H     grant of certificate for recovery of debt;
STANDARD CHARTERED BANK v. MSTC LIMITED                                    453
           [R. F. NARIMAN, J.]

   (b) remove any person from the possession or custody                    A
   of the property;
   (c) commit the same to the possession, custody or
   management of the receiver;
   (d) confer upon the receiver all such powers, as to
   bringing and defending suits in the courts or filing and defending      B
   applications before the Tribunal and for the realisation,
   management, protection, preservation and improvement of the
   property, the collection of the rents and profits thereof, the
   application and disposal of such rents and profits, and the
   execution of documents as the owner himself has, or such of             C
   those powers as the Tribunal thinks fit; and
   (e) appoint a Commissioner for preparation of an inventory
   of the properties of the defendant or for the sale thereof.”
Sections 20, 21 and 22 of the RDB Act state as follows:
   “20. Appeal to the Appellate Tribunal. - (1) Save as provided           D
   in sub-section (2), any person aggrieved by an order made, or
   deemed to have been made, by a Tribunal under this Act,
   may prefer an appeal to an Appellate Tribunal having
   jurisdiction in the matter.
   xxx xxx xxx                                                             E
   (3) Every appeal under sub-section (1) shall be filed within a
   period of thirty days the date on which a copy of the order
   made, or deemed to have been made, by the Tribunal is received
   by him and it shall be in such form and be accompanied by
   such fee as may be prescribed:                                          F
   Provided that the Appellate Tribunal may entertain an appeal
   after the expiry of the said period of thirty days if it is satisfied
   that there was sufficient cause for not filing it within that period.
   21. Deposit of amount of debt due, on filing appeal. -
   Where an appeal is preferred by any person from whom the                G
   amount of debt is due to a bank or a financial institution or a
   consortium of banks or financial institutions, such appeal
   shall not be entertained by the Appellate Tribunal unless
   such person has deposited with the Appellate Tribunal fifty
   percent of the amount of debt so due from him as
   determined by the Tribunal under section 19:                            H
454     SUPREME COURT REPORTS                          [2020] 2 S.C.R.


A        Provided that the Appellate Tribunal may, for reasons to be
         recorded in writing, reduce the amount to be deposited by
         such amount which shall not be less than twenty-five per
         cent of the amount of such debt so due to be deposited under
         this section.
B        22. Procedure and powers of the Tribunal and the
         Appellate Tribunal. - (1) The Tribunal and the Appellate
         Tribunal shall not be bound by the procedure laid down
         by the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908), but shall be
         guided by the principles of natural justice and, subject to the
         other provisions of this Act and of any rules, the Tribunal
C        and the Appellate Tribunal shall have powers to regulate their
         own procedure including the places at which they shall
         have their sittings.
         (2) The Tribunal and the Appellate Tribunal shall have, for the
         purposes of discharging their functions under this Act, the
D        same powers as are vested in a Civil Court under the Code
         of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908), while trying a suit, in
         respect of the following matters, namely:
         (a) xxx xxx xxx
         (e) reviewing its decisions;”
E
      Section 24 of the RDB Act states as follows:
         “24. Limitation. - The provisions of the Limitation Act, 1963
         (36 of 1963), shall, as far as may be, apply to an application
         made to a Tribunal.”
F     Section 34 (1) of the RDB Act states as follows:
         “34. Act to have overriding effect.—
         (1) Save as provided under sub-section (2), the provisions
         of this Act shall have effect notwithstanding anything
         inconsistent therewith contained in any other law for the time
G        being in force or in any instrument having effect by virtue
         of any law other than this Act.”
      Rule 2(b) and 2(c) of the Debt Recovery Tribunal (Procedure)
      Rules, 1993 states as follows:

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STANDARD CHARTERED BANK v. MSTC LIMITED                                455
           [R. F. NARIMAN, J.]

   “2. Definitions.-                                                   A
   (b) – “applicant” means a person making an application
   under section 19 or under section 31A and includes an
   “applicant” who files an appeal under section 30(1) of the
   Act;
   (c) “application” means an application filed under section          B
   19 or under section 31A and includes an “appeal” filed
   under section 30(1) of the Act”
Rule 4(1) of the Rules states as follows:
   “4. Procedure for filing applications
                                                                       C
   (1) An application under section 19 or section 31A, or under
   section 30(1) of the Act may be presented as nearly as
   possible in Form I, Form II and Form III respectively
   annexed to these rules by the applicant in person or by his
   agent or by a duly authorised legal practitioner to the Registrar
   of the Bench within whose jurisdiction his case falls or shall be   D
   sent by registered post addressed to the Registrar.”
Rule 5A of the Rules states as follows:
   “5A.Review.-
   (1) Any party considering itself aggrieved by an order made         E
   by the Tribunal on account of some mistake or error apparent
   on the face of the record desires to obtain a review of the
   order made against him, may apply for a review of the order
   to the Tribunal which had made the order.
   (2) No application for review shall be made after the               F
   expiry of a period of thirty days from the date of the order and
   no such application shall be entertained unless it is
   accompanied by an affidavit verifying the application.
   (3) Where it appears to the Tribunal that there is no sufficient
   ground for a review, it shall reject the application but
                                                                       G
   where the Tribunal is of opinion that the application for
   review should be granted, shall grant the same:
   Provided that no such application shall be granted without
   previous notice to the opposite party to enable him to appear
   and to be heard in support of the order, a review of which is
   applied for.”                                                       H
456      SUPREME COURT REPORTS                             [2020] 2 S.C.R.


A     Rule 7 of the Rules states as follows:
         “7. Application fee
         (1) Every Application under section 19(1), or section 19(2), or
         section 19(8), or section 30(1) of the Act, or interlocutory
         application or application for review of decision of the Tribunal
B        shall be accompanied by a fee provided in the sub-rule (2) and
         such fee may be remitted through a crossed Bank Demand
         Draft drawn on a bank or Indian Postal Order in favour of the
         Registrar of the Tribunal and payable at the place where
         the Tribunal is situated.
C        (2) The amount of fee payable shall be as follows:-


         S. No.          Nature of Application              Amount of Fee
                                                              Payable
           1.     Application for recovery of debts due
D
                  under section 19(1) or section 19(2)    Rs. 12,000
                  of the Act
                                                          Rs. 12,000 plus Rs.
                     (a) Where amount of debt due is      1,000 for every one
                     Rs. 10 lakhs                         lakh rupees of debt
                     (b) Where the amount of debt         due or part thereof
E                    due is above Rs. 10 lakhs            in excess of Rs. 10
                                                          lakhs, subject to a
                                                          maximum          of
                                                          Rs. 1,50,000
           2.     Application to counter claim under
                  section 19(8) of the Act –              Rs. 12,000
F
                     (a) Where the amount of claim        Rs. 12,000 plus Rs.
                     made is upto Rs. 10 lakhs.           1,000 for every one
                     (b) Where the amount of claim        lakh rupees or part
                     made is above Rs. 10 lakhs.          thereof in excess
                                                          of Rs. 10 lakhs,
G                                                         subject      to a
                                                          maximum          of
                                                          Rs. 1,50,000




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      STANDARD CHARTERED BANK v. MSTC LIMITED                                    457
                 [R. F. NARIMAN, J.]

            3.    Application for Review including                               A
                  review application in respect of          Rs. 125
                  counter-claim
                                                            50% of fee payable
                     (a) against an interim order           at     rates    as
                     (b) against a final order ex-          applicable on the
                     cluding review for correction          applications under   B
                     of clerical or arithmetical mistakes   section 19(1) or
                                                            19(8) of the Act,
                                                            subject     to a
                                                            maximum         of
                                                            Rs. 15,000
            4.    Application for interlocutory order       Rs. 250              C

            5.    Appeals against orders of the
                  Recovery Officer
                  If the amount appealed against is         Rs. 12,000
                     (i) less than Rs. 10 lakhs             Rs. 20,000           D
                     (ii) Rs. 10 lakh or more but less
                                                            Rs. 30,000
                     than Rs. 30 lakhs
                     (iii) Rs. 30 lakhs or more
            6.    Vakalatnama                               Rs. 5”
                                                                                 E
       6. A reading of the aforesaid provisions of the Act and Rules
would show that review petitions are dealt with in Section 22(2)(e) read
with Rule 5A of the Rules. Section 24, which applies the provisions
of the Limitation Act to applications made to a Tribunal, would, as per
the definition section contained in Section 2(b), apply only to                  F
applications that are made under Section 19, which are original
applications to recover debts that are made by banks and financial
institutions. What is clear is that an application for review cannot
possibly be said to be an application filed under Section 19 even on
a cursory reading of the provisions of the Act, as it traces its origin to
                                                                                 G
Section 22(2)(e) read with Rule 5A of the Rules.
      7. As a matter of fact, applications that are made to the Tribunal
under Section 19 of the Act are only made in order to recover a debt
from any person. Even Section 19(2), which is strongly relied upon by
Shri Dave, makes it clear that another bank or financial institution may
                                                                                 H
458             SUPREME COURT REPORTS                            [2020] 2 S.C.R.


A     join an applicant bank or financial institution at any stage of the proceeding
      before the final order is passed by making an application against the
      same debtor for debts owed to such other bank or financial institution.
      Also, under Section 19(5) of the Act, a written statement may include
      a claim for set-off and/or a counter-claim and under Section 19(18)
      of the Act, interim orders may be passed in applications filed for
B
      recovery of debts under Section 19 of the Act. All this must be
      contrasted with an application for review that is filed under Section 22
      (2)(e) of the Act read with Rule 5A of the Rules. Such applications
      are not for recovery of debts but are only applications to correct
      errors apparent on the face of the record in a judgment that has
C     been delivered in an application filed under Section 19.
              8. A reading of the Rules is also illuminating. Rules 2(b) and 2(c)
      of the Rules define “applicant” and “application”, respectively, as
      including applicants and applications filed under Section 19, 31A as well
      as appeals filed under Section 30(1) of the Act. An application
D     under Section 31A is an application to enforce a decree or order
      passed by any court before the commencement of the Amendment Act
      of 2000 and which has not yet been executed. An appeal under Section
      30(1) is an appeal to the Tribunal against orders of the Recovery
      Officer made under the Act. The reason why Rule 2(c) of the
      Rules defines application as including an application under Section
E     31A and an appeal filed under Section 31 of the Act, apart from
      applications filed under Section 19, is because under Rule 4 of the
      Rules, the procedure for filing such applications/appeal is under Forms I
      to III appended to the Rules. What is important to note is that even
      this extended definition, under the Rules, does not include an
F     application for review filed under Rule 5A of the Rules. In point of
      fact, Rule 7 makes it abundantly clear that each such application,
      including applications for review, are viewed separately and
      independently, as fees payable for filing such applications are vastly
      different, as is clear from Rule 7(2) of the Rules.
G            9. In fact, this Court in International Asset Reconstruction
      Company of India Limited (supra) had to consider whether Section 5
      of the Limitation Act can be invoked to condone delay in the filing of an
      appeal after the prescribed period of 30 days under Section 30(1) of the
      RDB Act. The Court first stated, in paragraph 8, that the RDB Act is
      undoubtedly a special law and a complete code by itself with regard to
H
     STANDARD CHARTERED BANK v. MSTC LIMITED                               459
                [R. F. NARIMAN, J.]

expeditious recovery of dues to banks and financial institutions. After    A
then noticing Section 22(1) in paragraph 9 and stating that Section 5
of the Limitation Act cannot proprio vigore apply to a tribunal as a
tribunal is not a Court (in paragraph 10), the Court went on to hold:
      “11. An “application” is defined under Section 2(b) of the RDB
      Act as one made under Section 19 of the Act. The latter              B
      provision in Chapter IV deals with institution of original
      recovery proceedings before a Tribunal. An appeal lies against
      the order of the Tribunal under Section 20 before the
      Appellate Tribunal within 45 days, which may be condoned for
      sufficient cause under the proviso to Section 20(3) of the Act.
      The Tribunal issues a recovery certificate under Section 19(22)      C
      to the Recovery officer who then proceeds under Chapter V
      for recovery of the certificate amount in the manner prescribed.
      A person aggrieved by an order of the Recovery officer can
      prefer an appeal before the Tribunal under Rule 4, by an
      application in the prescribed Form III. Rule 2(c) defines an         D
      “application” to include a memo of appeal under Section 30(1).
      The appeal is to be preferred before the Tribunal, as distinct
      from the Appellate Tribunal, within 30 days. Section 24 of the
      RDB Act, therefore, manifestly makes the provisions of the
      Limitation Act applicable only to such an original “application”
      made under Section 19 only. The definition of an                     E
      “application” under Rule 2(c) cannot be extended to read it in
      conjunction with Section 2(b) of the Act extending the meaning
      thereof beyond what the Act provides for and then make Section
      24 of the RDB Act applicable to an appeal under Section 30(1) of
      the Act. Any such interpretation shall be completely contrary to     F
      the legislative intent, extending the Rules beyond what the Act
      provides for and limits. Had the intention been otherwise, nothing
      prevented the Legislature from providing so specifically.
      12. A comparative study of Section 30, pre and post- amendment
      in the year 2000, reveals that the deemed status of proceedings      G
      before the Recovery officer, as a Tribunal, stands denuded.
      Had the proceedings before the Recovery officer deemed to
      be before a Tribunal, entirely different considerations may
      have arisen.

                                                                           H
460      SUPREME COURT REPORTS                              [2020] 2 S.C.R.


A       Old Section 30 before the 2000 Section 30 after            the 2000
        Amendment                      Amendment
        “30 Orders of Recovery Officer to   “30. Appeal against the
        be deemed as order of Tribunal.-    order of Recovery Officer.-
        Notwithstanding         anything    (1) Notwithstanding anything
B       contained in Section 29, an         contained in Section 29, any
        order made by the Recovery          person aggrieved by an order
        Officer in exercise of his powers   of the Recovery Officer made
        under Sections 25 to 28 (both       under this Act may, within thirty
        inclusive), shall be deemed to      days from the date on which a
        have been made by the Tribunal      copy of the order is issued to him,
C       and an appeal against such          prefer an appeal to the Tribunal.
        orders shall lie to the Appellate   (2) On receipt of an appeal under
        Tribunal.”                          sub-section (1), the Tribunal
                                            may, after giving an opportunity
                                            to the appellant to be heard, and
                                            after making such enquiry as it
D                                           deems fit, confirm, modify or set
                                            aside the order made by the
                                            Recovery Officer in exercise of
                                            his powers under Sections 25
                                            to 28 (both inclusive).”

E     13. The RDB Act is a special law. The proceedings are
      before a statutory Tribunal. The scheme of the Act manifestly
      provides that the legislature has provided for application of
      the Limitation Act to original proceedings before the Tribunal
      under Section 19 only. The Appellate Tribunal has been conferred
      the power to condone delay beyond 45 days under Section
F
      20(3) of the Act. The proceedings before the Recovery officer
      are not before a Tribunal. Section 24 is lim- ited in its application
      to proceedings before the Tribunal originating under Section 19
      only. The exclusion of any provision for extension of time by the
      Tribunal in preferring an appeal under Section 30 of the ct
G     makes it manifest that the legislative intent for exclusion was
      express. The application of Section 5 of the Limitation Act by
      resort to Section 29(2) of the Limitation Act, 1963 therefore
      does not arise. The prescribed period of 30 days under Section
      30(1) of the RDB Act for preferring an appeal against the order
      of the Recovery officer therefore cannot be condoned by
H     application of Section 5 of the Limitation Act.”
      STANDARD CHARTERED BANK v. MSTC LIMITED                                     461
                 [R. F. NARIMAN, J.]

       10. The judgment of this Court makes it plain, though in a slightly        A
different context, that the only application that is referred to by
Section 24 of the RDB Act is an application filed under Section 19 and
no other. This being the case, an application for review, not being
an application under Section 19, but an application under Section
22(2)(e) read with Rule 5A of the Rules, this judgment would apply
                                                                                  B
on all fours to exclude applications which are review applications
from the purview of Section 24 of the RDB Act.
       11. However, Mr. Dave laid great stress on paragraph 12 of
the said judgment and, in particular, the sentence “had the proceedings
before the Recovery Officer deemed to be before a Tribunal,
entirely different considerations may have arisen”. From this                     C
sentence, the learned counsel sought to infer that it would not only be
applications under Section 19 that would come within the “application”
spoken of in Section 24, but other applications also.
       12. We are afraid we are unable to agree with the aforesaid
submission. The clear ratio decidendi of this judgment makes it                   D
abundantly clear that the only application referred to in Section 24 is an
application filed under Section 19 and to no other. The sentence that is
extracted and relied upon by Mr. Dave only makes sense in the context
of Section 30 unamended, when read juxtaposed with Section 30 as
amended. Under the unamended section, when the recovery officer’s                 E
order was deemed as an order of the Tribunal, appeals would lie to
the Appellate Tribunal. This would mean that Section 20 of the RDB
Act would apply, as a result of which Section 20(3) would kick in and
would permit condonation of delay. After the amendment, it is important
to note that the recovery officer is no longer considered a Tribunal,
as result of which an appeal from a recovery officer’s order is made not          F
to the Appellate Tribunal, but to the Tribunal of first instance. It is in this
context that the aforesaid sentence in paragraph 12 of the Court’s
judgment is to be read, making it clear that if the unamended Section
30 were to apply, the provision contained in Section 20(3) would be
attracted, permitting condonation of delay.                                       G
       13. Mr. Dave’s second contention that, in any case, a review
petition is only a correction of the order made in the original
proceeding, and therefore part and parcel of the original proceeding,
cannot be countenanced in view of this Court’s judgment in Kamlesh
Verma vs. Mayawati and Others (supra). This Court held:                           H
462             SUPREME COURT REPORTS                           [2020] 2 S.C.R.


A           “13. In a criminal proceeding, review is permissible on the ground
            of an error apparent on the face of the record. A review
            proceeding cannot be equated with the original hearing of the
            case.
            20.2. When the review will not be maintainable:
B           (i) xxx
            (iii) Review proceedings cannot be equated with the original
            hearing of the case.”
             14. The peremptory language of Rule 5A would also make it clear
C     that beyond 30 days there is no power to condone delay. We may also
      note that Rule 5A was added in 1997 with a longer period within
      which to file a review petition, namely, 60 days. This period was cut
      down, by amendment, with effect from 04.11.2016, to 30 days.
      From this two things are clear: one, whether in the original or unamended
      provision, there is no separate power to condone delay, as is contained
D     in Section 20(3) of the Act; and second, that the period of 60 days
      was considered too long and cut down to 30 days thereby evincing an
      intention that review petitions, if they are to be filed, should be within a
      shorter period of limitation – otherwise they would not be maintainable.
            15. We are also of the view that the High Court wrongly applied
E     Order XLVII Rule 7 of the Code of Civil Procedure. Order XLVII
      Rule 7 states as follows:
            “7. Order of rejection not appealable - Objections to order
            granting application.-
            (1) An order of the Court rejecting the application shall not be
F
            appealable; but an order granting an application may be objected
            to at once by an appeal from the order granting the application or
            in an appeal from the decree or order finally passed or made in
            the suit.
            (2) Where the application has been rejected in consequence
G           of the failure of the applicant to appear, he may apply for an
            order to have the rejected application restored to the file, and,
            where it is proved to the satisfaction of the Court that he was
            prevented by any sufficient cause from appearing when such
            application was called on for hearing, the Court shall order it to be
H
      STANDARD CHARTERED BANK v. MSTC LIMITED                                   463
                 [R. F. NARIMAN, J.]

       restored to the file upon such terms as to costs or otherwise as it      A
       thinks fit, and shall appoint a day for hearing the same.
       (3) No order shall be made under sub-rule (2) unless notice of
       the application has been served on the opposite party.”
       16. Section 22(1) of the Act makes it clear that the Tribunal and
the Appellate Tribunal shall not be bound by the procedure laid down by         B
the Code of Civil Procedure, making it clear thereby that Order
XLVII Rule 7 would not apply to the Tribunal. Also, in view of
Section 20, which applies to all applications that may be made,
including applications for review, and orders being made therein
being subject to appeal, it is a little difficult to appreciate how Order       C
XLVII Rule 7 could apply at all, given that Section 20 of the RDB Act is
part of a complete and exhaustive code. Section 34 of the Act
makes it clear that the 1993 Act, (and, therefore, Section 20), will have
overriding effect over any other law for the time being in force, which
includes the Code of Civil Procedure. The High Court, in holding
that no appeal would be maintainable against the dismissal of the review        D
petition, and that therefore a writ petition would be maintainable,
was clearly in error on this count also.
        17. Shri Dave’s contention that as to the appellant’s conduct, as in
an application filed in 2012 an I.A praying that a judgment should be
given on admission, was filed unconscionably late i.e. only in 2017, five       E
years later, also has no legs to stand. In 2013, the respondent challenged
the jurisdiction of the DRT Mumbai which challenge was repelled finally
in appeal only in 2017 after which the said I.A was filed. In any event,
this is not an argument which would, by itself, lead to a dismissal of the
SLP filed by the appellant under Article 136 of the Constitution of India.      F
      18. For all these reasons therefore, we are of the view that
the High Court judgment cannot be sustained and is thus set aside.
The appeal is allowed accordingly.

Ankit Gyan                                                    Appeal allowed.   G




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