CMM / DM (Chief Metropolitan Magistrate / District Magistrate)

SARFAESI Act, 2002 — Section 14

Under Section 14 of the SARFAESI Act, a secured creditor may apply to the CMM (in metropolitan areas) or DM (in non-metropolitan areas) to obtain physical possession of a secured asset. The CMM/DM must pass an order within 30 days of the application (extendable to 60 days for recorded reasons).

In practice, the CMM or DM is the enforcement muscle behind SARFAESI when a borrower will not hand over a secured asset. Although SARFAESI lets a secured creditor take possession without a civil suit, physical possession of an occupied or resisted property often needs official assistance, and Section 14 is the route — the creditor applies to the CMM in a metropolitan area or the DM elsewhere, who is required to pass an order assisting possession within thirty days, extendable to sixty for recorded reasons. This is a largely ministerial, document-checking exercise, not a forum to re-argue the merits of the debt; the borrower's substantive grievances belong before the DRT under Section 17. The common pitfalls are an incomplete or defective affidavit accompanying the application, which stalls the order, and assuming the CMM/DM can adjudicate disputes it cannot. Well-advised creditors front-load a complete Section 14 application so the possession order issues without avoidable delay.