RADHEY SHAYAM PANDEY Vs. CHAIRMAN, BANK OF BARODA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Heard Mr. Abhishek Tripathi, Advocate, for the complainant and Mr. Arun Aggarwal, Advocate, for the opposite parties.

(2.) Radhey Shyam Pandey has filed above complaint, for directing the opposite parties to pay ((i) Rs.75700000.00 for loss of business, with interest @18% per annum from the date of submitting the documents by the complainant till the date of payment; (ii) Rs.8400000.00, on account of consideration and bank guarantee forfeited by the GIDA; (iii) Rs.50000.00 as legal expenses across multiple forums and miscellaneous cost; and (iv) any other relief which is deem fit in the interest of justice.

(3.) The complainant stated that he wanted to start a cold storage unit for earning his livelihood and applied for allotment of land in industrial area developed by Gorakhpur Industrial Development Authority (GIDA) on 13/9/2010. He opened a savings bank account with OP-4 on 2/11/2010. GIDA allotted Plot No.A-1/28 area 12873 sq. meter, Sector-15, Industrial Area at village Juriyan, on lease for total lease premium of Rs.10494488.50, vide allotment letter dtd. 1/3/2011, for opening the cold storage. The complainant deposited Rs.1050000.00, as reservation money, which was about 10% of the entire premium payable and furnished a bank guarantee of Rs.735000.00 with the GIDA. GIDA executed Lease Agreement on 25/5/2011, in favour of the complainant. The complainant approached OP-4 for financial assistance. As demanded by OP-4, the complainant deposited Rs.110300.00 and Rs.1750.00 on 28/4/2011 to initiate the Techno Economic Viability (TEV) study and also submitted the original documents, namely, registry of the land, allotment letter issued by GIDA receipt/challan and other papers on 29/6/2011. OP-1, vide letter dtd. 15/9/2011, expressed its inability to sanction loan to the complainant. The complainant, vide letter dtd. 27/1/2012, requested OP-1 to return the original documents submitted by him on 29/6/2011 and also gave a reminder on 5/3/2012. Despite several reminders, the OPs failed to return the documents of the complainant. Deputy Manager, GIDA sent a notice dtd. 5/5/2012 to the complainant to open the unit failing which the allotment of plot would be cancelled and the bank guarantee furnished would be forfeited. As the OPs did not return the original documents, the complainant filed Writ Petition (C) No.24276 of 2012 before the High Court, Allahabad. The OPs filed its counter affidavit stating that the original documents submitted by the complainant had been misplaced and were not traceable. The High Court, vide order dtd. 9/7/2012 allowed the writ petition and directed the OPs to bear the cost, in obtaining the duplicate copies of the documents from the concerned departments. As the opposite parties failed to comply the order of the High Court, the complainant filed Contempt Petition No. 6167 of 2012 which is pending. In the meanwhile, GIDA forfeited the bank guarantee of the complainant. Due to loss of the original documents by gross negligence committed by the OPs, the complainant could not arrange fund for opening cold storage as such his bank guarantee of Rs.735000.00 has been forfeited and the complainant has suffered business loss of Rs.75700000.00. The complainant filed CC/361/2015, which was withdrawn with permission to file fresh complaint vide order dtd. 29/6/2015 bringing on record certain additional facts. The complainant sent a legal notice dtd. 8/12/2015 to OP-4 to return the original documents, who, vide letter dtd. 1/1/2016 replied that they did not have the documents. Then the present complaint on 5/4/2017.