Finance ministry asks banks to set up oversight mechanism for pending DRTs

The Finance Ministry on Saturday asked banks to put in place effective monitoring and oversight mechanisms for efficient management of pending cases in Debt Recovery Tribunals (DRTs).

Financial Services Secretary M Nagaraju, who chaired a meeting with chairpersons of Debt Recovery Appellate Tribunals (DRATs) and Presiding Officers of Debt Recovery of Tribunals (DRTs) also discussed some of the best practices followed in DRTs.

It has been emphasied that some of the best practices can be adopted across DRTs for better outcomes, an official statement said.

During the meeting it was also deliberated that banks should clearly define the policy for small and high-value cases pending in DRTs for optimising the recovery and all stakeholders should work collectively to reduce pendency and take effective measures for optimisation of recovery.

Faster recovery would help in ploughing back the capital stuck in pending cases to the economy for productive use, it said.

While formulating settlement policy, banks to take into account the transaction costs in mind while pursuing pending recovery cases was emphasised.

It was decided that the DRT Regulations 2024 which have a number of improved features over the earlier DRT Regulation 2015 to be adopted by all DRTs with an objective to make the DRT process more effective and less time consuming.