INDIAN BANK vs ABS MARINE PRODUCTS PVT. LTD. .

The Supreme Court upheld the Calcutta High Court's dismissal of the Bank's appeals against orders rejecting the transfer of a civil suit to the Debt Recovery Tribunal under Section 19 of the Recovery of Debts Due to Banks and Financial Institutions Act, 1993. The Court established that the suit filed by the borrower was not a counter-claim but a separate suit, thus maintainable in the High Court. The Court affirmed the lower court's ruling that the Bank's request for transfer was barred by res judicata due to a prior rejection of a similar application.