Case: Indian Bank Vs SCIL (India) Ltd. (In Liquidation) and Ors.. Kolkatta Debt Recovery Tribunals
| Judges | S.D. Singh, Presiding Officer |
| Issue | Constitution Of India - Articles 227, 300-A; General Clauses Act 1897 - Section 3; Recovery of Debts Due To Banks And Financial Institutions Act, 1993 - Sections 19, 19(18) (e), 19(18)(e), 22, 22(1), 29; Transfer Of Property Act, 1882 - Section 108(h) |
| Judgement Date | May 19, 2005 |
| Court | Kolkatta Debt Recovery Tribunals |
Judgment:
S.D. Singh, Presiding Officer
1. In the aforementioned appeal No. 15 of 2004, the Hon'ble D.R.A.T., Kolkata, vide its order dated 18th January, 2005 directed that the two applications, one filed by the Indian bank before the Kolkata Debts Recovery Tribunal-II, Kolkata, on 29th January, 2004 as also the application by Prem Narayan Garg, (respondent No.4 in the aforesaid appeal) purported to have been disposed off by the D.R.T.-II, Kolkata, vide its order dated 26th February, 2004 shall be taken up and heard by this Tribunal. In the order of the Hon'ble D.R.A.T. it has been specified to take up the applications and dispose off the same preferably within three weeks from the date of the matter being mentioned before this Tribunal by the advocates for the parties.
2. In compliance of the order of the Hon'ble D.R.A.T. the learned Registrar of the D.RT.-II sent the applications to be disposed off by this Tribunal vide his letter No.5/6/D.R.T.-2/2004 198 dated 2nd February, 2005 which was received by the learned Registrar of this Tribunal on 23rd February, 2005 and came up before this Tribunal on 10th March, 2005.
3. During the proceedings before this Tribunal the successful purchaser, Prem Narayan Garg (respondent No.4 in the appeal before the. Hon'ble D.R.A.T., Kolkata) filed C.O. No. 940 of 2005 under Art. 227 of the Constitution of India in the Hon'ble High Court at, Kolkata in the instant matter in which his Lordship Hon'ble Justice S.K. Mukherjee has observed as under:
After hearing Mr. Joy Saha, learned advocate appearing for the petitioner and Mr. Sarbadhikari, learned advocate appearing for the bank, in my view, justice will be subserved if the order of sale of the Guest House property at 2, Jubilee Park, Jamshedpur and consequential order for delivery of possession in favour of the petitioner, who is the alleged highest bidder, should remain stayed till the disposal of the applications filed by the bank for setting aside of the sale and filed by the petitioner for delivery of possession of the property pursuant to the confirmation of the sale.
Mr. Saha submits that his client has not yet filed the counter affidavit to the application of the bank for setting aside of the sale. Liberty is granted to Mr. Saha's client to file counter affidavit to the application filed by the bank for setting aside of the sale by 10 days; affidavit-in-reply thereto, if any, by the bank by one week thereafter,
I request the learned Presiding Officer, D.R.T.-I, Kolkata to consider and dispose off the aforesaid applications, i.e. the application filed by the bank for setting aside of the sale and the application filed by the auction purchaser for delivery of possession within a period of two months from the date of communication of this order to him. I, however, direct the parties to maintain status quo as of today in respect of the said Guest House property at 2, Jubilee Park, Jamshedpur till the disposal of the aforesaid application.
By way of abundant caution I make it clear that I have not gone into the merits of the claims and the counter claims of the parties involved in both the said applications and all questions are left open and are to be considered by the Tribunal in accordance with law.
On the prayer of Mr. Saba, learned advocate appearing for the petitioner, I make it clear that the learned Presiding Officer shall consider those applications independently without being influenced by any observation made by the learned Chairperson, D.R.A.T. in the order impugned.
4. The certified copy of the order of the Hon'hIe High Court had been filed before this Tribunal on 8th April, 2005.
5. The brief facts relevant for the disposal of the said two applications are that the Indian Bank has filed an application/petition on 29th January, 2004 (hereinaft~r referred to as 1st application) before the D.R.T.-II at Kolkata, being aggrieved by the order dated 20th January, 2004 of the D.RT.II, Kolkata, and has prayed inter alia in the said 1st application to set aside auction sale held on the same day in pursuance of the said order of the D.R.T.-II regarding the Guest House property at 2, Jubilee Road, Jamshedpur. In the second application dated 25th February, 2004 (hereinafter referred to as 2nd application) filed before the D.R.T.-II, Kolkata, the successful purchaser Prem Narayan Garg has prayed inter alia for issuance of sale certificate in respect of the structure standing on, 2, Jubilee Road, Jamshedpur, of which he has been declared successful purchaser by the D.RT.-II, Kolkata.
6. In T.A. No. 124 of 2000 filed by the Indian Bank in the D.R.T.-II, Kolkata, to recover certain debts, SCIL (India) Ltd. (a company in liquidation) is a defendant and the debt is claimed to be recoverable from it. Vide its order dated 20th January, 2004 the learned Presiding Officer of the D.R.T.II, Kolkata, appointed the Recovery Inspector Ajoy Kumar Das, as special officer to conduct the sale on the same day of the properties of A-21 and 22, Adityapur Industrial Area, Jamshedpur and 2, Jubilee Road, Jamshedpur. It has been directed in the said order dated 20th January, 2004 that the Recovery Inspector so appointed as special officer would report the result of auction on that day itself and thereafter the suitable order would be passed by the learned Presiding Officer. It is also obvious from the order that the learned Counsel for the Indian Bank made oral prayer to the learned Presiding Officer for the postponement of the sale but his prayer had been turned down for the reason that no ground had been stated for such postponement and the learned Presiding Officer has also observed in this regard as under:
I do not find any justification to postpone the sale at this stage as the intending purchasers are coming for the last couple of dates and notice of sale was published by the bank on order of the Tribunal.
On the same day the TATA Iron & Steel Company Ltd. (TISCO) filed an application before the D.R.T.-II, Kolkata, for the postponement of the sale regarding the property at 2, Jubilee Road, Jamshedpur, on the ground that till rights and interests in the structure and Guest House are determined, the sale be postponed. In respect of the application of TISCO for postponement of the sale, the learned Presiding Officer observed as under:
In this regard the Tribunal has passed the specific order on 14th January, 2004 that the money out of the sale of the structure of the Guest House at 2, Jubilee Road, Jamshedpur, will be kept in a separate deposit and will be subject to the final order as to rights of the parties to the structure.
The application of TISCO has been disposed off by the learned Presiding Officer accordingly. It has also been observed in the order by the learned Presiding Officer that:
TISCO as per their application on 19th January, 2004 wanted to participate in the sale. The permission is granted.
The proceeding has been concluded with the observation-
Put up for further order on the report of the special officer.
7. The Recovery Inspector Ajoy Kumar Das appointed as special officer to conduct the sale, in compliance with the aforesaid direction of the learned Presiding Officer conducted the sale in the Court Room at about 4-30 p.m. i.e. the room where the learned Presiding Officer sits and passes the order. He submitted his report to the Tribunal on the same day. The report of the special officer reads as under:
pursuant to the order dated 20th January, 2004 passed by the learned Presiding Officer, D.R.T.-II, Kolkata, the undersigned has been appointed as special officer to conduct the sale of the properties situated at A-21 and 22, Adityapur Industrial Estate, Jamshedpur and structure at No.2, Jubilee Road Guest House, Jamshedpur. Accordingly, the undersigned conducted the sale of both properties on 20th January, 2004 at about 4-30 p.m. inside the Courtroom by way of open bid. The report of the auction sale is placed below.
1. For property situated at Adityapur Industrial Estate, Jamshedpur: Six bidders were given their name to participate in the auction sale. Out of which three bidders namely Macro Telecom Pvt. Ltd., Prem Narayan Garg...
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