(1) Every suit or other proceeding pending before any court immediately before the date of establishment of a Tribunal under this Act, being a suit or proceeding the cause of action whereon it is based is such that it would have been, if it had arisen after such establishment, within the jurisdiction of such Tribunal, shall stand transferred on that date to such Tribunal:
PROVIDED that nothing in this sub-section shall apply to any appeal pending as aforesaid before any court.
(2) Where any suit or other proceeding stands transferred from any court to a Tribunal under sub-section (1):
(a) the court shall, as soon as may be after such transfer, forward the records of such suit or other proceeding to the Tribunal; and
(b) the Tribunal may, on receipt of such records, proceed to deal with such suit or other proceeding, so far as may be, in the same manner as in the case of an application made under section 19 from the stage which was reached before such transfer or from any earlier stage *** as the Tribunal may deem fit.
Legal Commentary & Landmark Judgments: Section 31
Section 31 governs the transfer of pending civil court recovery suits to the DRT and anchors the issuance of Recovery Certificates under Section 31A.
Section 31 and 31A bridged the gap between legacy civil court decrees and the specialized DRT enforcement framework, enabling banks to enforce stalled court decrees through summary administrative execution.