Kerala High Court issues notice to Presiding Officer of DRT for "prima facie contemptuous" order

The Kerala High Court on Wednesday issued notice to the Presiding Officer of the Debt Recovery Tribunal-I, Ernakulam for passing an order that it observed was "prima facie contemptuous" [Aliyumma v Union of India & Ors.]..Single-judge Gopinath P noted that the DRT had dismissed an application moved by the petitioner, without appointing an advocate commissioner, as had been directed by the High Court.Therefore, the Court issued notice to the Presiding Officer to show cause as to why contempt proceedings should not be intimated against him for violating the order of the Court."It appears that the Tribunal has by Ext.P7 order dismissed I.A No.468/2022 without even referring Ext.P6 judgment of this court. Prima facie, this is contemptuous. Hence the registry shall issue notice to the Presiding Officer, Debts Recovery Tribunal-I, Ernakulam to show cause as to why proceedings for contempt of court shall not be initiated for violating the order passed in Ext.P6. The reply of the officer shall be on record on or before October 7, 2022," the order stated..The Court passed the order on a plea that sought a stay on further proceedings against the petitioner pursuant to notice issued under Section 13(4) of the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest (SARFAESI) Act, 2002.The Court had previously directed the tribunal to consider the application moved by the petitioner before it after appointing an advocate commissioner to carry out the inspection of the property under question.However, the tribunal had dismissed the application, seemingly without referring to the High Court's judgment. Advocates Binoy Vasudevan and Sreejith Sreenath appeared for the petitioner and Deputy Solicitor General of India S Manu appeared for the Central government..The matter will be taken up next on October 7..[Read Order]