Court No. - 39
Case :- WRIT - C No. - 14155 of 2021 Petitioner :- M/S Prakshi Infraestate Pvt. Ltd. , Through Its Director Respondent :- Bank Of India And Another Counsel for Petitioner :- Mukesh Baghel,Anil Kumar Bajpai Counsel for Respondent :- R.V. Pandey,Prabodh Kumar Bajpai,R.V. Pandey
Hon'ble Mrs. Sunita Agarwal,J. Hon'ble Mrs. Sadhna Rani (Thakur),J.
Heard Sri Anil Kumar Bajpai learned counsel for the petitioner and Sri R.V. Pandey learned counsel appearing for the respondent- Bank.
The present petition has been filed with the following relief:-
"A. Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus commanding the respondents to recalculate and modify the OTS amount of the petitioner firm under the Onetime Settlement Scheme-2021 floated by the respondent Bank of India in its letter dated 27.05.2021 in consonance with the Reserved Bank of India Guidelines which was received by petitioner on 04.06.2021 by which the petitioner has been directed to pay Rs. 6,50,00,000/- which is against the Onetime Settlement Scheme-2021 while the petitioner is liable to pay Rs.3,27,13,123/- instead of Rs. 6,50,00.000/-."
It is sought to be submitted by the learned counsel for the petitioner that a one time settlement scheme namely BOI OTS in 2020 was floated in the Bank on 25.08.2020. Pursuant to the same, the Bank had issued an offer letter to the petitioner which was duly replied by the petitioner by the communication/ letter dated 27.05.2021 the OTS proposal made by the petitioner had been accepted.
It is, then, contended that in the meantime a new scheme namely BOI OTS 2021 came into force w.e.f. 28.04.2021, which provides that all such cases where OTS proposal had been accepted or not under BOI OTS 2020, shall be considered under the new scheme, i.e. BOI OTS 2021. The submission, thus, is that by communication dated 27.05.2021 the bank had considered the proposal under OTS 2021 but the computation made is wrong. The submission is that the re-computation of OTS settlement under the prevailing scheme mainly BOI OTS 2021 is, thus, to be made by the respondent- Bank.
The attention of the Court is invited to page-'200' of the paper book to assert that the OTS proposal accepted by the Bank as communicated by the letter dated 27.05.2021 is under the new scheme i.e. BOI OTS 2021.
In the counter affidavit filed by the respondent-Bank, it is sought to be submitted that petitioner had applied under the OTS 2020 vide letter dated 25.05.2021 with the deposit of Rs.43 lacs as upfront money. The OTS offer given by the Bank was, thus, accepted by the petitioner company under the old BOI OTS 2020.
It is then contended that the account of sister concern of the petitioner company was categorized as fraud by the respondent- Bank on the basis of some observation of the Statutory Branch Auditors and forensic audit reports. Accordingly, a complaint was lodged with the CBI on 08.07.2020 wherein the petitioner company is also one of the accused. The respondent- Bank vide letter dated 09.04.2021 sought certain clarification from the CBI but when no response of CBI was received, the Bank had communicated the approval of the proposal under OTS scheme 2020 vide letter dated 27.05.2021.
The averments in paragraph-'33' of the counter affidavit in this regard are not denied.
It is not disputed by the petitioner that new scheme namely BOI OTS 2021 came into operation on 24.04.2021. The offer given by the bank under the old scheme BOI OTS 2020 has been accepted by the petitioner vide letter dated 25.02.2021. The stand of the respondent- Bank is that the OTS offer was given under the old scheme and it was, accordingly, approved on the acceptance of offer given by the petitioner vide letter dated 25.02.2021. The communication was delayed on account of the clarification sought from the CBI.
In the light of the above, the stand of the petitioner that acceptance of proposal vide communication dated 27.05.2021 is under the new/ current scheme BOI OTS 2021 is, thus, not correct.
Considering the above, we may further note that nowhere in the writ petition, the petitioner has stated that it had applied under the new scheme i.e. BOI OTS 2021 which came into effect on 28.04.2021. The stand of the petitioner that the computation of its liability under the OTS scheme 2021 has wrongly been made by the respondent- Bank, therefore, is not accepted.
It is, however, kept open for the petitioner to apply under the current scheme BOI OTS 2021 by moving a proper application before the Bank within a period of three weeks from today. In case, such an application is moved, the respondent- Bank shall be under obligation to consider the proposal under the current scheme and take an appropriate decision, in accordance with law, within a further period of three weeks thereafter. The deposits made by the petitioner as upfront money and under the order(s) passed by this Court shall be duly adjusted while making computation under the BOI OTS 2021.
The writ petition is accordingly, disposed of. Order Date :- 27.7.2021 Radhika Digitally signed by Justice Sunita Agarwal Date: 2021.07.30 10:16:08 IST Reason: Document Owner Location: High Court of Judicature at Allahabad Digitally signed by Sadhna Rani Thakur Date: 2021.07.30 10:20:06 IST Reason: Document Owner Location: High Court of Judicature at Allahabad