The Department of Financial Services (DFS), Ministry of Finance organised a colloquium of Chairpersons of Debt Recovery Appellate Tribunals (DRATs) and Presiding Officers of Debt Recovery Tribunals (DRTs) on 24th May 2025 at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi.  Justice S.V.N. Bhatti, Judge of the Supreme Court of India graced the occasion and delivered the keynote address. The participants included senior officers of the DFS, representatives of various public and private sector banks and Indian Banks’ Association.

Secretary DFS highlighted the various key initiatives taken by the Department such as adoption of revised DRT Regulations, mandatory e-filing, hearing through video-conferencing, hybrid hearings etc. for reducing turnaround time of the matters adjudicated by the tribunals.

The colloquium witnessed discussions on wide spectrum of issues to enhance the efficiency of DRTs. The key areas of deliberations included:

1. Effective implementation of DRT Regulations, 2024;
2. Robust monitoring and oversight mechanisms by banks for increasing recovery through DRTs;
3. Prioritization of high value cases in DRTs for optimal recovery;
4. Use of alternate dispute resolution mechanisms including Lok Adalats for expeditious disposal of cases;
5. Intensive training of Presiding Officers and other officials of DRTs;
6. Introduction of further reforms to reduce turn-around time for various processes in DRT proceedings etc.

All stakeholders were urged to collaborate in reducing pendency of cases by establishing effective recovery ecosystem. This would facilitate the redeployment of capital locked in cases pending before DRTs for productive use in the economy.

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(Release ID: 2130960)