On Monday, the Supreme Court issued a notice in the Special Leave petition filed, which raised the issue of whether a High Court can, in exercising its power under Section 482 CrPC, quash an order passed by a District Magistrate under Section 14 of the SARFAESI Act. This submission was taken into consideration by the bench of Justices MR Shah and MM Sundresh, who issued a notice in the matter.

On this issue, the Madras High Court has expressed conflicting views. For example, another single bench of the High Court ruled in 2020 that the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate is a persona designata under the SARFAESI Act and his orders cannot be challenged under Section 482 Cr.P.C. Another single judge recently observed that an order under Section 14 of the SARFAESI Act "can be very well challenged" in the High Court under Section 482 CrPC.

The Madras High Court granted a petition filed under Section 482 CrPC challenging orders issued by the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court, Egmore, Chennai under Section 14 SARFAESI Act (to assist secured creditor in taking possession of secured asset). The court agreed with the petitioner's contention that the Magistrate issued this order without giving the petitioner an opportunity to be heard.

Case Details

Phoenix Arc Private Limited vs V. Ganesh Murthy

SLP(Diary) 32916/2022

Link: https://main.sci.gov.in/supremecourt/2022/32916/32916_2022_5_38_40021_Order_25-Nov-2022.pdf