Jurisdiction of Debt Recovery Tribunals in India: Complete Guide to All 39 DRTs and 5 DRATs
The Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) system is a specialised statutory mechanism created to deal with recovery of debts due to banks and financial institutions. The framework is principally governed by the Recovery of Debts and Bankruptcy Act, 1993 (RDB Act), while DRTs also exercise important jurisdiction under the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002 (SARFAESI Act). The Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, currently states that 39 DRTs and 5 Debts Recovery Appellate Tribunals (DRATs) are functioning across India.
The basic jurisdiction of a DRT comes from the RDB Act. Under Section 17, a DRT has jurisdiction to entertain and decide applications from banks and financial institutions for recovery of debts due to them. The Act was specifically enacted to provide an expedited mechanism for adjudication and recovery of such debts. Section 18 further establishes a statutory bar on the jurisdiction of ordinary courts and other authorities in matters falling within Section 17, subject to the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and High Courts under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution.
In practical terms, DRT jurisdiction has two important dimensions: pecuniary jurisdiction and territorial jurisdiction. Pecuniary jurisdiction concerns whether the claim falls within the statutory monetary threshold applicable to the DRT, while territorial jurisdiction determines which particular DRT is competent to hear the case. The fact that a bank, borrower or secured property is located in a particular city does not automatically answer the jurisdiction question; the applicable statutory provisions and Central Government notifications defining each tribunal’s territorial area have to be considered.
Under the present framework, Original Applications, commonly called OAs, are principally filed by banks and financial institutions seeking recovery of qualifying debts. The Department of Financial Services specifically describes OAs as applications filed by banks and financial institutions. DRTs also deal with applications under the SARFAESI Act, commonly referred to as Securitisation Applications, through which borrowers, guarantors and third parties may challenge qualifying measures taken by secured creditors.
The territorial jurisdiction of individual DRTs is notified by the Central Government. Section 3 of the RDB Act provides the statutory foundation for establishing tribunals and specifying the areas within which they may exercise jurisdiction. Consequently, lawyers and litigants should distinguish between the statutory jurisdiction of DRTs as a class and the specific territorial jurisdiction assigned to an individual DRT bench by government notification.
There are currently 39 DRTs spread across five DRAT jurisdictions. The five appellate regions are DRAT Allahabad, DRAT Chennai, DRAT Delhi, DRAT Kolkata and DRAT Mumbai. The Department of Financial Services’ published tribunal structure groups the 39 DRTs under these five DRATs.
DRAT Allahabad has appellate jurisdiction over six DRTs: DRT Allahabad, DRT Dehradun, DRT Jabalpur, DRT Lucknow, DRT Patna and DRT Ranchi. Thus, orders passed by these six DRTs ordinarily fall within the appellate structure of DRAT Allahabad, subject to the governing jurisdictional provisions and any subsequent notification or transfer.
DRAT Chennai has jurisdiction over nine DRTs: DRT Chennai-I, DRT Chennai-II, DRT Chennai-III, DRT Bengaluru-I, DRT Bengaluru-II, DRT Coimbatore, DRT Ernakulam-I, DRT Ernakulam-II and DRT Madurai. This makes the Chennai appellate region one of the largest DRT groupings in the country.
DRAT Delhi has jurisdiction over seven DRTs: DRT Delhi-I, DRT Delhi-II, DRT Delhi-III, DRT Chandigarh-I, DRT Chandigarh-II, DRT Chandigarh-III and DRT Jaipur. These DRTs therefore form the Delhi DRAT’s principal appellate network.
DRAT Kolkata has jurisdiction over nine DRTs: DRT Kolkata-I, DRT Kolkata-II, DRT Kolkata-III, DRT Hyderabad-I, DRT Hyderabad-II, DRT Visakhapatnam, DRT Siliguri, DRT Cuttack and DRT Guwahati. The Kolkata appellate region consequently covers DRTs located across several eastern, northeastern and southern/east-coast jurisdictions.
DRAT Mumbai has jurisdiction over eight DRTs: DRT Mumbai-I, DRT Mumbai-II, DRT Mumbai-III, DRT Ahmedabad-I, DRT Ahmedabad-II, DRT Aurangabad, DRT Nagpur and DRT Pune. These tribunals form the Mumbai appellate region under the current published structure.
Taken together, the five appellate regions account for all 39 DRTs: six under Allahabad, nine under Chennai, seven under Delhi, nine under Kolkata and eight under Mumbai. This distribution is particularly important when an appeal is being considered because the appellate forum is determined by the DRT from which the impugned order originates and the applicable DRAT jurisdiction.
The 39 DRTs currently identified by the Department of Financial Services are DRT-I Ahmedabad, DRT-II Ahmedabad, DRT Allahabad, DRT Aurangabad, DRT-I Bengaluru, DRT-II Bengaluru, DRT-I Chandigarh, DRT-II Chandigarh, DRT-III Chandigarh, DRT-I Chennai, DRT-II Chennai, DRT-III Chennai, DRT Coimbatore, DRT Cuttack, DRT-I Delhi, DRT-II Delhi, DRT-III Delhi, DRT Dehradun, DRT-I Ernakulam, DRT-II Ernakulam, DRT Guwahati, DRT-I Hyderabad, DRT-II Hyderabad, DRT Jabalpur, DRT Jaipur, DRT-I Kolkata, DRT-II Kolkata, DRT-III Kolkata, DRT Lucknow, DRT Madurai, DRT-I Mumbai, DRT-II Mumbai, DRT-III Mumbai, DRT Nagpur, DRT Patna, DRT Pune, DRT Ranchi, DRT Siliguri and DRT Visakhapatnam. The Department’s current DRT/DRAT information confirms that 39 tribunals are functioning nationally.
The jurisdictional structure is particularly relevant to DRT Jabalpur. It is grouped under DRAT Allahabad along with DRT Allahabad, DRT Dehradun, DRT Lucknow, DRT Patna and DRT Ranchi. However, the precise territorial area assigned to DRT Jabalpur should be checked against the applicable Central Government notification rather than inferred merely from the tribunal’s location. This is important because DRT territorial jurisdiction is created through statutory notifications and can be altered by subsequent government orders.
The appellate structure is governed principally by Section 20 of the RDB Act. A person aggrieved by an order of a DRT can pursue an appeal before the appropriate DRAT, subject to the statutory requirements governing such an appeal. The DRAT therefore does not ordinarily function as another court of first instance for the original recovery claim; its principal role is appellate review of matters arising from the DRTs falling within its jurisdiction.
The SARFAESI Act adds another major dimension to DRT jurisdiction. Unlike an ordinary recovery action under the RDB Act, SARFAESI permits qualifying secured creditors to enforce security interests through the statutory mechanism without first obtaining a conventional civil-court decree. A person aggrieved by specified measures taken by a secured creditor can approach the DRT under Section 17 of the SARFAESI Act. The Department of Financial Services expressly identifies SARFAESI applications as a major category of proceedings before DRTs.
The scale of this jurisdiction is substantial. According to Department of Financial Services data, DRTs disposed of 36,395 Original Application cases involving approximately ₹1.64 lakh crore during 2023-24. During the same financial year, they disposed of 16,146 SARFAESI applications involving approximately ₹1.42 lakh crore. The figures illustrate why determining the correct tribunal and appellate forum is an important issue in financial litigation.
The RDB Act also provides mechanisms for transferring cases between tribunals in appropriate circumstances. The India Code version of the Act records that the Chairperson of an Appellate Tribunal having jurisdiction over the tribunals may, after following the statutory process, transfer a case from one tribunal to another tribunal. Therefore, the existence of a particular territorial allocation does not necessarily mean that every proceeding will remain permanently before the same DRT in every circumstance.
The DRT system should also be distinguished from ordinary civil courts. Section 18 of the RDB Act contains a bar on the jurisdiction of courts and authorities concerning matters assigned to the DRT under Section 17, while expressly preserving the constitutional jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and High Courts under Articles 226 and 227. The precise effect of this bar depends on the nature of the proceeding and the statutory provision involved, so jurisdictional objections must be analysed on the facts of each case rather than treated as an absolute exclusion of every civil or constitutional remedy.
The five DRATs are therefore the second level of the specialised DRT framework: DRAT Allahabad, DRAT Chennai, DRAT Delhi, DRAT Kolkata and DRAT Mumbai. Their appellate territories collectively cover the entire network of 39 DRTs. The Department of Financial Services continues to publish information concerning the tribunals, appointments, vacancies and administrative functioning through its official DRT/DRAT system.
In summary, the jurisdiction of a Debt Recovery Tribunal cannot be determined simply by looking at the city where a bank or borrower is located. The nature of the proceeding, the statutory basis of the claim, the monetary requirements, the territorial notification applicable to the particular DRT and, where relevant, the location and legal connection of the parties or cause of action all need to be considered. For an appeal, the corresponding DRAT must then be identified from the DRT’s appellate grouping. Because tribunal jurisdictions and administrative arrangements can be modified by government notification, litigants should verify the latest official allocation before filing a new case.
For current tribunal information, the Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance is the primary government source. Its DRT/DRAT page currently records 39 DRTs and five DRATs, while India Code provides the authoritative statutory text of the Recovery of Debts and Bankruptcy Act, 1993. Department of Financial Services — DRT/DRAT India Code — Recovery of Debts and Bankruptcy Act, 1993
