Recovery Certificate (RC)

RDDB Act, 1993 — Section 19(22)

An order issued by the DRT Presiding Officer in favour of a bank or financial institution directing recovery of the debt as certified. The RC has the effect of a decree of a civil court and is executed by the Recovery Officer of the DRT, who may arrest the debtor, attach and sell property, appoint a Receiver, and recover the debt by all means available under the RDDB Act.

In practice, the Recovery Certificate is the prize at the end of a DRT Original Application — an order under Section 19(22) of the RDDB Act, 1993 issued by the Presiding Officer certifying the debt, which carries the force of a civil court decree. Once the RC is issued, the matter passes to the Recovery Officer, who can attach and sell movable and immovable property, appoint a receiver, and in appropriate cases arrest the debtor, to realise the certified sum. For a creditor, the RC converts a paper claim into an enforceable mandate; the real recovery work — tracing assets, attaching accounts, conducting auctions — begins here, not at the OA. For the borrower, the window to resist narrows to objections before the Recovery Officer and limited appeals. A common error is treating the RC as the end of the matter: an unexecuted certificate recovers nothing, and execution itself can stall on valuation and saleability of attached assets. Well-advised creditors plan execution strategy before the certificate is even sought.