MR. RAJESH AGARWAL Vs. RESERVE BANK OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Aggrieved by the non-inclusion of principles of natural justice in the Master Directions on Fraud ('the Master Circular', for short), dated 01.07.2016, issued under Section 35-A of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 by the Reserve Bank of India, aggrieved by the decision of the Joint Lenders Forum ('the JLF', for short) dated 15-02-2019, and aggrieved by the resolution of the Fraud Identification Committee ('FIC', for short) dated 31.07.2019, whereby both the JLF and the FIC have classified the account of M/s. B. S. Limited, ('the Company', for short), of which the petitioner was the former Chairman and Managing Director, as 'fraud' and 'willful defaulter', the petitioner, Mr. Rajesh Agarwal, has approached this Court.

(2.) Briefly, the facts of the case are as under:

(3.) Mr. B.S. Prasad, the learned Senior Counsel for SBI Bank, has raised a preliminary objection, with regard to the maintainability of the writ petition before this Court. According to the learned Senior Counsel, the SBI had already approached the NCLT for declaring the Company as insolvent. By order, dated 01.11.2018, the NCLT had appointed the IRP; by order, dated 29.04.2019, the NCLT had extended the term of the IRP. Since the IRP could not resurrect the Company despite his best efforts, by order, dated 04.11.2019, the NCLT had appointed an OL. Once the OL had been appointed, the management of the Company falls within the jurisdiction of the OL. Therefore, the petitioner, who is a former Chairman and Managing Director of the Company, has no relevant role to play in the affairs of the Company. Hence, the petitioner lacks the locus standi to challenge the order, dated 15.02.2019 passed by the JLF, and the consequential resolution, dated 31.07.2019, passed by the FIC, and to challenge the legal validity of the Master Circular issued by the RBI.