The Litigation Sweep: Checking DRT, NCLT, the High Court and Civil Courts Before You Bid

Why a court case matters to a buyer

A SARFAESI sale passes the rights in the property “as if the transfer had been made by the owner” (SARFAESI Act s.13(6)). The buyer steps into the borrower’s position, and a dispute that was attached to the property before the sale stays attached to it afterwards.

Cases reach a buyer in three ways. A challenge to the bank’s process can stay or set aside the sale. A suit over ownership can bind the property in the buyer’s hands. And an insolvency case against a company borrower can stop the sale from completing at all. Each lives in a different forum, so the sweep covers each.

The forums to search, for Bengaluru and Hyderabad

The DRT is where most disputes about the bank’s process go: any person aggrieved by a SARFAESI measure, not only the borrower, may apply within 45 days of the measure (s.17(1)). Civil courts cannot hear matters the DRT is empowered to decide (s.34), but a claim that someone else owns the property, or a share of it, is still a civil-court matter, which is why the civil-court search is not optional. Our Red Flag File on the stay that lands after the auction shows how a s.17 application affects a buyer.

How to run each search

1. 1

   List the names and the property

   Write down every name to search: the borrower, any co-borrower or guarantor who owns the property, and the earlier owners named in the title deeds. Add the property description from the sale notice — survey number, municipal number, flat and building name.

2. 2

   District civil courts on e-Courts

   On services.ecourts.gov.in, choose case status, then the state, district and court complex where the property lies, and search by party name. Repeat for each name and each spelling. Where a case number or CNR (the 16-character case number) is known, search by that.

   services.ecourts.gov.in, as of 19 Oct 2026

3. 3

   High Court

   Search the High Court’s case status by party name on hcservices.ecourts.gov.in, which covers both High Courts. In Karnataka, include all three benches; in Telangana, the case status portal linked from tshc.gov.in is a second route.

4. 4

   DRT and DRAT

   On drt.gov.in, select the tribunal and search the case status. Look for the bank’s recovery case against the borrower and any application under s.17 challenging the possession or the sale.

5. 5

   NCLT and IBBI

   If the borrower, a guarantor or the owner is a company or LLP, search its name on nclt.gov.in across benches — a case is heard by the bench for the company’s registered office, which may be in another city (IBC s.60(1)) — and check the IBBI public announcements for an insolvency process.

6. 6

   Date and save each result

   Save each result page with the date it was run. A clear result is a statement about that day.

Lis pendens: a pending suit binds the buyer

Lis pendens means “a pending suit”. Under Transfer of Property Act s.52, while a suit or proceeding is pending in which a right to immovable property is “directly and specifically in question”, the property cannot be transferred so as to affect the rights of the other parties under the decree, except with the court’s authority.

For a buyer, the effect is that a purchase made during such a suit is subject to its result. If a co-owner’s partition suit, a prior purchaser’s claim for specific performance or a family title dispute succeeds, the decree reaches the property in the buyer’s hands. The rule does not depend on the buyer knowing about the suit.

Why an insolvency filing matters

When the NCLT admits an insolvency case against a company, the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code imposes a moratorium that bars any action to enforce a security interest over its property, including action under SARFAESI (IBC s.14(1)(c)). This applies to the company that borrowed and to a company that mortgaged its property as guarantor.

Timing is what makes this a buyer’s issue. A SARFAESI sale is complete only when the entire price is paid and the sale certificate issues. In Indian Overseas Bank v. RCM Infrastructure (Supreme Court, 2022), the sale had been confirmed and the 25% paid when the borrower company’s insolvency began; the bank could not accept the balance or complete the sale. The NCLT search is therefore run before EMD and again before the balance is paid. Our Red Flag File on the insolvency filing before the sale certificate walks through the pattern.

What a search cannot rule out

• Anything filed after the search date. That is why every result is dated and the sweep is repeated before EMD and before the balance.
• Misspelt or differently written names, initials, and cases filed against an earlier owner whose name you do not have.
• Property-based search. Portals search by party, case number or CNR, not by survey number, so a suit over the land filed by and against strangers to your list can be missed.
• Cases in a court or court complex that was not searched — for example, a related dispute an earlier owner is party to in another district.

This is why an advocate’s search at the registry of the court with jurisdiction over the property remains standard practice, alongside the online checks. The litigation sweep is one of the six points of our check; it holds as of the day it was run, and a case that appears is a question for the advocate, not an automatic verdict on the property. Many cases on a party’s name have nothing to do with the property being sold.

Questions buyers ask

Sources

Statutes, rules and judgments first. Checked as of 19 October 2026; the law and portal practice change, so confirm against the source before relying on a detail.

1. StatuteTransfer of Property Act, 1882 — s.52 (lis pendens)
2. StatuteSARFAESI Act, 2002 — ss.13(6), 17, 18, 34
3. JudgmentIndian Overseas Bank v. RCM Infrastructure Ltd, Supreme Court, 18 May 2022
4. Official portale-Courts services — district court case status
5. Official portalNational Company Law Tribunal — benches and case status
6. Official portalDebts Recovery Tribunals and DRATs — case status
7. Official portalDRAT Chennai — jurisdiction
8. Official portalHigh Court for the State of Telangana
9. Official portalHigh Court case status — e-Courts (Karnataka and Telangana)
10. RegulatorIBBI — public announcements of insolvency processes