The Rajasthan High Court held that refusing a borrower the chance to approach the DRT while challenging a bank's SARFAESI possession measures ignores the borrower's constitutional right to property under Article 300A. It set aside a DRAT order that had rejected an appeal on a technical limitation ground, holding that Section 17's limitation period must be read liberally and run from the date of the last challenged action.
What this changes for a title check
DRT/DRAT should not dismiss a borrower's challenge to possession action on a technical limitation point if the borrower approached the tribunal within a reasonable time of the actual possession or Section 14 step, not some earlier one. For a buyer relying on a SARFAESI sale, this is a reminder to check whether the limitation clock on any pending borrower challenge was correctly computed from the last enforcement action; a wrongly time-barred dismissal is exactly the kind of order that can be reopened later and unsettle a purchaser's title.