Foodco Delicacies INDIA(P) LTD vs. Reserve Bank Of INDIA
Original PDF →No AI summary yet for this judgment.
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM PRESENT THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE DEVAN RAMACHANDRAN MONDAY ,THE 21ST DAY OF JANUARY 2019 / 1ST MAGHA, 1940 WP(C).No. 1021 of 2019 PETITIONER: FOODCO DELICACIES INDIA(P) LTD XI/46R, TRICHATTUKULAM P.O.CHERTHALA, ALAPUZHA PIN 688 526. BY ADVS. SRI.C.K.KARUNAKARAN SMT.LEKSHMI P. NAIR SRI.ARJUN SATHISH KUMAR RESPONDENTS: 1 RESERVE BANK OF INDIA, REP. BY DEPUTY GOVERNOR, DEPARTMENT OF BANKING REGULATION, 12TH FLOOR, CENTRAL OFFICE, SHAHID BHAGAST SINGH MARG, MUMBAI 400 001. 2 RESERVE BANK OF INDIA, REGIONAL OFFICE, BENERJI ROAD, ERNAKULAM (N) COCHIN 682 018 3 FEDERAL BANK LTD, REP. BY ASSISTANT VICE PRESIDENT AND AUTHORISED OFFICER, LCRD/ERNAKULAM DIVISION, GROUND FLOOR,FEDERAL TOWERS, MARINE DRIVE, COCHIN 682 031. 4 SENIOR MANAGER AND BRANCH HEAD, FEDERAL BANK LTD, PANAGAD BRANCH,MADAVANA, COCHIN 682
BY ADVS. SRI.JACOB P.ALEX SRI.JOSEPH P.ALEX SRI.JACOB P.ALEX -SC THIS WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) HAVING COME UP FOR ADMISSION ON 21.01.2019, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING:
WP(C).No. 1021 of 2019 2 JUDGMENT This is a case in which the petitioner, who is concededly a borrower of certain loan liabilities from the respondent Bank, has approached this Court assailing the notice issued by the Bank under Section 13(2) of the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Securities Interest Act ('the SARFAESI Act' for short). Normally, a challenge against a notice under Section 13(2) would be unnecessary and superfluous since the petitioner has an alternative efficacious remedy of filing objections against it, under the provisions of the SARFAESI Act, more so since it is statutorily incumbent upon the Bank to answer such objections through the process mandated under Section 13(3A) of the Act.
That said, I am aware that the submissions of Sri. C.K. Karunakaran, the learned counsel for the petitioner is that the Section 13(2) notice in question, namely Ext.P16 is incompetent, since the Bank could not have declared the account as a Non Performing Asset prior to the issuance of said notice, going by the circular of the Reserve Bank of India and the applicable law. He says, that, therefore, Ext.P16 is null and void and hence amenable to the juri iction of this Court.
Even when I hear Sri. C.K. Karunakaran as afore, as I have
WP(C).No. 1021 of 2019 3 already indicated above, the petitioner's remedy against a Section 13(2) notice is spelt out clearly in the Act itself. He can always raise objections to the said notice and ask the Bank to look into the same and then can await the reply to be issued to him under Section 13(3A); and for any reason, if the Bank is of the view that the petitioner has made out a case, then it is always up to them to even recall the notice and issue a fresh one after following the procedural mandate. Therefore, at this point of time, the contention of the petitioner is speculative in nature and would not therefore, be worthy of examination by this Court under the processes of judicial scrutiny.
When I made my mind clear as afore at the Bar, Sri. C.K. Karunakaran, learned counsel for the petitioner, said that his client will invoke the alternative remedy of filing objections against Ext.P16 notice and he prays that liberty may be reserved to his client to approach this court again as and when it is so warranted.
The learned standing counsel for the Bank says that his contentions are more or less in lines with the views of this Court as recorded above, but that he does not stand in the way of this writ petition being withdrawn with the afore liberty.
WP(C).No. 1021 of 2019 4 In the afore circumstances, I close this writ petition as having been withdrawn; however leaving full liberty to the petitioner, either to invoke its alternative remedies or to approach this Court as and when it is so warranted in terms of law. DEVAN RAMACHANDRAN JUDGE Ns //// PA TO JUDGE
WP(C).No. 1021 of 2019 5 APPENDIX PETITIONER'S EXHIBITS: EXHIBIT P1OF SANCTION LETTER DATED 22.2.2014 EXHIBIT P2OF SANCTION LETTER DATED 21.3.2017 EXHIBIT P3BANK STATEMENT OF PCL ACCOUNT. EXHIBIT P4OF BANK STATEMENT OF BILLS DISCOUNTED ACCOUNT. EXHIBIT P5OF BANK STATEMENT OF TERM LOAN ACCOUNT 2573 EXHIBIT P6OF BANK STATEMENT OF TERM LOAN ACCOUNT 2565 EXHIBIT P7OF BANK STATEMENT OF OD CC ACCOUNT 1771 EXHIBIT P8 TRUE EXTRACT FROM KHALEEJ TIMES. EXHIBIT P8 A TRUE EXTRACT FORM UAE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT AND CLIMATE CHANGE PUBLIC NOTICE EXHIBIT P8 BOF STATE OF QUTAR, MINISTRY OF PUBLIC HEALTH PUBLIC NOTICE, EXHIBIT P8 COF NEWS ITEM THAT APPEARED IN HINDU BUSINESSLINE. EXHIBIT P9OF STOCK STATEMENT DATED 31.5.2018 EXHIBIT P10OF PETITIONERS LETTER DATED 18.6.2018 SEEKING RESCHEDULING EXHIBIT P11OF PETITIONERS LETTER DATED 30.8.2018 SEEKING RESCHEDULING EXHIBIT P12OF PETITION LETTER DATED 21.11.2018 SEEKING RESCHEDULING EXHIBIT P13OF RBI MASTER DIRECTION DATED 3.7.2017
WP(C).No. 1021 of 2019 6 EXHIBIT P14OF SLBC MINUTES 29.8.2018 EXHIBIT P15OF GO DATED 29.8.2018 ON FLOOD AFFECTED PALCES. EXHIBIT P16OF NOTICE DATED 4.12.2018 ISSUED UNDER S 13(2) OF SARFAESI ACT. EXHIBIT P17OF UDYOG ADHAR ISSUED BY MINISTRY OF MSME GOVT OF INDIA EXHIBIT P17 A AOF GST REGISTRATION CERTIFICATE OF THE PETITIOEN EXHIBIT P18OF RBI CIRCULAR DATED 6.6.2018 ON MSME NPA CLASSIFICATION EXHIBIT P19OF RBI MASTER CIRCULAR DATED 17.3.2016 ON RESTRICTING OF ADVANCES TO MSMES EXHIBIT P20OF RBI GUIDELINES DATED 1.1.2019 ON RESTRUCTURING OF ADVANCES TO MSME'S EXHIBIT P21OF RBI PRESS RELEASE DATED 1.1.2019 ON CONSTITUTING EXPERT COMMITTEE ON MSME'S
Reproduced from the public record of the Kerala High Court. Verify against the court's own copy before relying on it. Income tax judgments are on bharattax.net.