A bank classified a borrower's account as an NPA and issued a notice under Section 13(2) of the SARFAESI Act, 2002. The borrower made a representation under Section 13(3

Section 13(3A) of the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002 obliges the secured creditor, on receipt of the borrower's representation or objection, to consider it and to communicate its reasons for non-acceptance within fifteen days of the receipt of such representation. Compliance with this requirement is a condition attached to enforcement, and failure to respond in time can affect the validity of measures taken under Section 13(4). The Act fixes no seven-day, thirty-day, forty-five-day or sixty-day period at this stage of the process, sixty days being the period associated with classification of the account as a non-performing asset. The fifteen-day reply window therefore gives the correct answer.