Statutory Stop-Watch Re-Set: Section 17(5) SARFAESI Act Comes Alive

A silent file in the Debts Recovery Tribunal, Dehradun, has become the trigger for a sharp reminder from the Supreme Court that debt-recovery statutes are meant to be swift, not sluggish. In Indian Overseas Bank v. M/s Radhey Infra Solutions (Pvt.) Ltd. & Ors., Civil Appeal arising out of SLP (C) No. 21255/2025, decided on 7 October 2025, a Bench of Justices Sanjay Kumar and Alok Aradhe converted the bank's prayer for speed into a binding directive that now stares at every tribunal which treats mandatory timelines as ornamental.

The Players and the Paper Trail

The aggrieved appellant is Indian Overseas Bank, a public-sector lender that had taken symbolic possession of certain secured assets of the borrower-company, M/s Radhey Infra Solutions (Pvt.) Ltd. The borrower retaliated by filing Securitisation Application No. 264 of 2024 under Section 17(1) of the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act,