ATUL PUNJ Vs. IDBI BANK

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner is invoking the extraordinary jurisdiction of this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India seeking issuance of an appropriate writ, thereby seeking setting aside/quashing of the impugned order dtd. 5/7/2024 passed by the respondent classifying him as 'fraud" in respect of loans/advances/financial transactions by the corporate borrowers viz. Punj Lloyd Limited ['PLL'] purportedly in exercise of its power as per the Master Directions passed by the RBI 'Reserve Bank of India' .

(2.) Mr. Sandeep Sethi, learned Senior Advocate for the petitioner has alluded to the previous order dtd. 2/4/2024 passed by this Court in Atul Punj v. IDBI Bank W.P. (C) 4643/2024, CM APPL 19018/2024 dtd. 2/4/2024, whereby the earlier Show Cause Notice ['SCN'] dtd. 7/2/2024 issued by the respondents-banks against the petitioner was assailed.

(3.) In a nutshell, it was urged that as per clause 8.9.4 of the Master RBI Circular dtd. 3/7/2017, it is clearly stipulated that the banks which have financed the borrower under 'multiple banking' arrangement, should take co-ordinated action, based on commonly agreed strategy; and the process to declare banking transactions/ accounts as 'fraud' could only be based on the majority rule of agreement amongst the banks with at least 60% share in the total lending.