Adjudicating authorities and appellate authorities

Every Mumbai lawyer knows that the same dispute can land in very different rooms: a consumer commission for a flat buyer, the High Court for a writ, the NCLT for a company. Insolvency follows the same logic. A retail borrower in Belapur and a company in Nariman Point do not go to the same tribunal. So who decides a personal insolvency, where does the loser appeal, and can a civil court step in? Chapter VI of Part III, sections 179 to 183A, answers these questions for individuals and partnership firms.

In two minutes

For individuals and partnership firms the Adjudicating Authority is the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT); appeals go to the Debt Recovery Appellate Tribunal (DRAT) within 30 days and then to the Supreme Court on a question of law within 45 days; but where the individual is a personal guarantor to a corporate debtor, the NCLT and NCLAT are the forums (ss.60–61).

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