REPRESENTATION AND OBJECTION UNDER SECTION 13(3A) OF THE SECURITISATION AND RECONSTRUCTION OF FINANCIAL ASSETS AND ENFORCEMENT OF SECURITY INTEREST ACT, 2002
WITHOUT PREJUDICE TO MY RIGHTS AND CONTENTIONS
Date: __________
Place: __________
To
The Authorised Officer
__________
__________
__________
From
__________
__________
Mobile: __________
LOAN ACCOUNT NUMBER: __________
FACILITY: __________
YOUR DEMAND NOTICE UNDER SECTION 13(2): dated __________
AMOUNT DEMANDED: __________ as on __________
Sir / Madam,
Subject: Representation and objection under section 13(3A) of the SARFAESI Act, 2002 read with Rule 3A of the Security Interest (Enforcement) Rules, 2002, against your demand notice dated __________ in loan account __________ — your reasoned reply is required within fifteen days
1. WHO I AM AND WHAT NOTICE THIS REPLIES TO
1.1 I am __________, the __________ named in your demand notice referred to above, in respect of loan account __________ (__________) maintained at your __________. I am a "borrower" within the meaning of section 2(1)(f) of the Act, which includes not only the person to whom financial assistance was granted but also any person who has given a guarantee or created a mortgage or pledge as security for it.
1.2 Your demand notice is dated __________ and reached me on __________ __________.
1.3 By that notice you have demanded payment of __________ as due as on __________, and you have described the following as the secured assets intended to be enforced in the event of non-payment:
__________
1.4 This letter is my representation and objection under section 13(3A) of the Act, made as soon as practicable after receipt of your notice.
2. WHAT THE LAW REQUIRES YOU TO DO WITH THIS LETTER
2.1 Section 13(3A) of the Act provides that where, on receipt of a notice under section 13(2), the borrower makes a representation or raises an objection, the secured creditor shall consider that representation or objection; and that if the secured creditor concludes that it is not acceptable or tenable, it shall communicate the reasons for non-acceptance to the borrower within fifteen days of receiving it.
2.2 Rule 3A of the Security Interest (Enforcement) Rules, 2002 places the same duty on the Authorised Officer: to consider the representation or objection and to examine whether it is acceptable or tenable, and to communicate the reasons if it is not.
2.3 I therefore ask you to place this letter before the Authorised Officer, to consider each ground below on its merits, and to send me a reasoned written reply dealing with each ground separately, within fifteen days, at the postal address given above. A reply that merely repeats the demand, or that says the objection is "not tenable" without reasons, does not answer section 13(3A).
2.4 The period of sixty days referred to in section 13(2) runs from the date of your notice, __________. I ask that no measure under section 13(4) of the Act be initiated until you have considered this representation and communicated your reasons to me in writing.
2.5 Nothing in this letter is an admission. It is not an admission of the correctness of the amount claimed, of the classification of the account, of the validity of the notice, or of any liability, save to the extent (if any) expressly admitted below. It is written under reserve of all my rights and contentions.
3. GROUNDS OF OBJECTION
3.1 In summary, my objection is this:
__________
4. WHAT I ASK YOU TO DO
4.1 Consider this representation and objection on its merits, as section 13(3A) of the Act and Rule 3A of the Rules require you to do.
4.2 Send me a reasoned reply within fifteen days, dealing with each ground separately, at the address given above.
4.3 Withdraw the demand notice dated __________, or hold it in abeyance until this representation has been decided.
4.4 Furnish, in any event and within fifteen days:
(a) a certified statement of loan account __________ from the date of first disbursement to date, showing every debit and credit with its date, narration and value date;
(b) a head-wise, date-wise break-up of the sum of __________ between principal, interest, penal charges, insurance, legal and other charges, together with the rate of interest applied for each period and the date of every reset, and the sanction term or schedule of charges under which each charge was levied;
(c) the exact date on which the account was classified as a non-performing asset, the ledger balance and the number of days past due on that date, and the basis of that classification;
(d) copies of the sanction letter, the loan agreement and every security document relied upon, together with the particulars of charge as registered, and a copy of the authorisation of the Authorised Officer who issued the notice.
4.5 Take no measure under section 13(4) of the Act until this representation has been considered and your reasons have been communicated to me in writing.
4.6 Grant me an opportunity to be heard in person, or by video conference, before you reach a conclusion. I make this as a request, and I will attend at a time convenient to the branch.
6. RESERVATION OF RIGHTS
6.1 This representation is without prejudice to all my rights and contentions, including my right to apply to the Debts Recovery Tribunal under section 17 of the Act if and when any measure under section 13(4) is taken, and my right under section 13(8) of the Act to tender the dues together with all costs, charges and expenses at any time before the date of publication of a notice for public auction or for inviting quotations or tenders from the public, or for effecting a private treaty, for transfer of the secured asset, upon which the secured asset shall not be transferred by way of lease, assignment or sale; and where any such step has already been taken, no further step shall be taken for such transfer.
6.2 If your reasons are not communicated to me within fifteen days as section 13(3A) requires, or if the reply does not deal with the grounds raised in this letter, I will take the matter up with the Principal Nodal Officer or Grievance Redressal Officer of __________ under your board-approved grievance redressal policy, and thereafter, to the extent that the applicable scheme permits, with the redressal authority having jurisdiction over you — the Reserve Bank Ombudsman under the Reserve Bank – Integrated Ombudsman Scheme, 2026 if you are a bank or a non-banking financial company covered by that Scheme, or the National Housing Bank if you are a housing finance company, housing finance companies being excluded from that Scheme. I will also be constrained to place your failure to comply with section 13(3A) before the Debts Recovery Tribunal.
6.3 I remain willing to meet the branch, to reconcile the account and to resolve this matter. Nothing in this letter is intended as anything other than a genuine attempt to have the account corrected.
7. DELIVERY, ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND PROOF
7.1 This representation is being served on you __________.
7.2 Please acknowledge receipt in writing, quoting loan account __________ and the date of receipt, and please quote that account number in every reply and communication.
7.3 All communications in this matter must be sent to me at the postal address at the head of this letter, and not to any other address on your records.
Yours faithfully,
_______________________________
__________
__________ — Loan Account __________
__________
Mobile: __________
Date: __________ | Place: __________
Copy to: The Branch Manager, __________, __________ — for record.
FOR THE SENDER. THIS PAGE IS YOUR CHECKLIST. DO NOT SEND IT TO THE BANK.
A. See a lawyer now. A section 13(2) notice is the start of enforcement without a court. Every step after it runs on a short clock. Brief a lawyer this week, and give them your notice, your loan agreement, your security documents and your account statements.
B. Diarise these dates.
- Sixty days from __________ — the date of the notice, not the date you received it. After that period the lender may take measures under section 13(4), such as taking possession.
- Fifteen days from the day the bank receives this letter — the outer limit for the bank's reasoned reply under section 13(3A). Mark the date on your acknowledged copy.
- Forty-five days from the date the lender actually takes a measure under section 13(4) — the period within which an application under section 17 of the Act must be made to the Debts Recovery Tribunal. It does not run from the demand notice, and it does not run from this letter. An appeal from the Tribunal to the Appellate Tribunal under section 18 must normally be filed within thirty days and is subject to a deposit requirement.
- Before publication of the auction, tender or private treaty notice — the outer point at which you can still redeem the secured asset under section 13(8) by paying the dues with costs, charges and expenses. The right bites against transfer by lease, assignment or sale, and once a step towards transfer has been taken no further step may be taken.
C. Understand what section 13(3A) gives you, and what it does not. It gives you the right to be heard on paper and to a reasoned reply in fifteen days. It does not, by itself, stop the sixty-day clock, and the Act expressly says that the reasons communicated to you do not by themselves create a right to go to the Tribunal. Section 13(3A) also sets no deadline for your own representation — send it as early as you can, but a late representation is still worth making. Its real value is evidential: a specific, documented objection that the bank ignores becomes a strong point before the Tribunal later.
D. Escalation ladder, in order.
- The branch and the Authorised Officer — this letter, delivered with proof. If no reply in fifteen days, write again attaching the acknowledged copy.
- The Principal Nodal Officer or Grievance Redressal Officer of the lender — the name and address are published on the lender's website and displayed at the branch. Attach everything.
- The outside forum — but first find out which one covers your lender. This is not the same for every home loan.
- If your lender is a bank, or a non-banking financial company covered by the scheme: the RBI Ombudsman, under the Reserve Bank – Integrated Ombudsman Scheme, 2026, which came into force on 1 July 2026 and replaced the 2021 Scheme. File at cms.rbi.org.in, or call 14448, or post to the Centralised Receipt and Processing Centre, Reserve Bank of India, 4th Floor, Sector 17, Chandigarh 160017. You must complain to the lender first and wait thirty days for its reply. You must then file within ninety days of that reply, or, where no reply comes, within ninety days of the end of the thirty-day wait. Ninety days goes quickly — do not let it lapse while the SARFAESI matter drags on.
- If your lender is a housing finance company: the RBI Ombudsman does not cover it. Housing finance companies are expressly excluded from the Scheme, together with core investment companies, infrastructure debt fund NBFCs, NBFC-Infrastructure Finance Companies, non-operative financial holding companies, primary dealers and mortgage guarantee companies. A large share of home loans in India are made by housing finance companies rather than banks, so check what your lender actually is before you file anything — the legal name on your sanction letter and demand notice will usually say. Your route is the company's own Grievance Redressal Officer under its published policy, and then the National Housing Bank, through the complaint route published on nhb.org.in (its Grievance Registration and Information Database System, GRIDS, at grids.nhbonline.org.in, or the Complaint Redressal Cell, National Housing Bank, Core 5A, India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road, New Delhi 110003).
- Either way, be realistic. Neither forum entertains a complaint whose subject matter is pending before or already decided by a court or tribunal, so neither will decide the SARFAESI enforcement itself. Use them for the service failures — payments not credited, no statement of account, no acknowledgement, no reply.
- The Debts Recovery Tribunal, under section 17 — through your lawyer, once a measure under section 13(4) has been taken. This is the forum that can actually set the enforcement aside.
E. Keep the proof. Branch stamp with date and signature on your copy; registered post receipt and the returned acknowledgement card, or the speed post tracking printout; a copy of the email with its sent timestamp. Keep the originals of all of it in one file. Send copies to the bank, never originals.