ANIL SHARMA Vs. BANK OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) INITIALLY , aggrieved by withholding of the contractual dues by the respondent Nos. 5 to 8 and inaction on the part of the respondent Nos. 1 to 5 in not taking a decision on proposal for "one time settlement" dated 23.06.2014, the petitioner approached this Court. Further prayers for directing the respondents to consider the "one time settlement" offer of the petitioner and in the meantime, a direction to the respondent -bank not to take any coercive measures against the petitioner have been made in the writ petition. The petitioner has also prayed for a direction to the respondent Nos. 6 to 8 to implement the award of the Arbitration Tribunal and to release the awarded amount.

(2.) THE brief facts of the case are that, the petitioner was awarded different work orders in the State of Jharkhand and the State of Bihar and for executing the works, he availed various credit limits from the respondent -Bank of India. During the year, 2009 some of the projects were either stopped or could not commence and therefore, the petitioner raised a claim from the respective Principal/Contractee and finally initiated three separate arbitration proceedings. The petitioner duly communicated the developments to the respondent -Bank of India and sought its cooperation. The petitioner also requested waiver of interest due to the difficulty faced by him however, the petitioner's account was classified as N.P.A. with effect from 30.10.2013 and the respondent -Bank of India issued notice dated 12.11.2013 under Section 13(2) of the SARFAESI Act, 2002 and demanded payment of Rs. 75,23,300/ -. Subsequently, vide letter dated 25.11.2013 the demand was modified and the petitioner was directed to pay Rs. 1,68,00,000/ -. The petitioner vide letter dated 13.12.2013 requested the respondent -Bank of India for enhancing the credit limit to Rs. 185 Lacs and to decrease the bank guarantee limit from Rs. 1.5 Crore to Rs. 1 Crore and also informed the respondent -bank about award of more than Rs. 71 Lacs vide award dated 08.12.2013. The petitioner again made representations on 03.04.2014 and 23.04.2014 however, the respondent -bank rejected the petitioner's representations. The petitioner on 23.06.2014 submitted an offer of Rs. 61 Lacs for full and final settlement of the loan account however, the respondent -bank communicated to the petitioner vide letter dated 25.06.2014 that the offer amount of Rs. 61 Lacs was too low. Though the respondent -bank had informed the petitioner that after regularising the loan account, enhancement of loan/grant of loan, if possible, would be considered however, on 25.06.2014 notice under Section 13(4) of the SARFAESI Act, 2002 was issued and possession of the secured assets was taken by the respondent -bank. On 31.07.2014, the petitioner again submitted an offer of Rs. 82 Lacs as "one time settlement" and vide letter dated 04.08.2014 again it was communicated that the offer of Rs. 82 Lacs is far below the total dues.

(3.) A counter -affidavit to I.A. No. 4484 of 2014 has been filed by the respondent -Bank of India raising a preliminary objection to the maintainability of the writ petition on the ground that the petitioner has already filed S.A. No. 80 of 2014 under Section 17 of the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Act, 2002. It is stated that the writ petition has been filed for obstructing the proceeding taken against the petitioner under the SARFAESI Act, 2002 in which the possession notice dated 19.06.2014 has been published in the daily newspaper namely, "Prabhat Khabar". The petitioner is a chronic defaulter. The petitioner has to pay an amount of Rs. 262.06 Lacs and therefore, the compromise offer of Rs. 82 Lacs was not accepted by the bank. The petitioner was advised by the respondent -bank vide letters dated 01.03.2014, 07.04.2014, 28.04.2014 and 31.05.2014 however, the petitioner did not take steps for regularising the account and intentionally he offered a lower amount of Rs. 61 Lacs as "one time settlement" proposal. It is stated that the market value of the securities given by the petitioner is about Rs. 208.87 Lacs and the petitioner is liable to pay the outstanding amount of Rs. 2,51,61,843.03/ - with interest.