Allahabad High Court
Murari Lal And 3 Others vs State Of U.P. And 4 Others on 2 July, 2021
Bench: Sunita Agarwal, Sadhna Rani (Thakur)
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD
?Court No. - 39
Case :- WRIT - C No. - 14284 of 2021
Petitioner :- Murari Lal And 3 Others
Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 4 Others
Counsel for Petitioner :- Archana Singh
Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.,Dharmendra Vaish
Hon'ble Mrs. Sunita Agarwal,J.
Hon'ble Mrs. Sadhna Rani (Thakur),J.
Heard Sri B.P. Singh, learned Senior Advocate assisted by Ms. Archana Singh, learned counsel for the petitioners, Sri Dharmendra Vaish learned Advocate for the respondent- Bank and the learned Standing Counsel for the State-respondents.
The present writ petition has been filed with the following reliefs:
"1. Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus commanding the respondents to remove seal/open the lock put on gates of Chacha Banquet Hall, Swar at Rampur and release the physical possession of banquet hall in favour of petitioners immediately;
2. Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus commanding the respondents to issue No Dues certificate to the petitioners;
3. Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus commanding the respondents to decide the pending representation dated 07.06.2021 filed by the petitioners within prescribed period in accordance with law."
The assertion of the learned counsel for the petitioners is that against the recovery proceedings initiated by the respondent- Bank, the petitioners had approached this Court in Writ C-41265 of 2019 wherein liberty was granted to them to repay the entire outstanding dues in instalments. The copy of the order dated 13.12.2019 disposing of the aforesaid writ petition has been appended at page no.'75' of the paper book. It is then contended that another writ petition no.1672 of 2020 was filed by the petitioners with the relief as follows:
"Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus directing the respondent - Bank to open the seal/lock of Banquet Hall of the petitioners forthwith and handover the physical possession of the aforesaid Banquet Hall to the petitioners."
The same was disposed of vide judgment and order dated 18.01.2020 in the following manner:-
"Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, we direct the respondents to, forthwith, de-seal the Banquet Hall of the petitioners and permit the petitioners to carry out their business thereon.
It is made clear that in case the petitioners are unable to pay the instalment as fixed by this Court vide order dated 13.12.2019, it will be open for the respondent - Bank to proceed against the petitioners in accordance with law and to start recovery proceedings against the petitioners by taking coercive measures.
Shri Alok Singh, learned Standing Counsel undertakes to inform about this order to the District Magistrate, Rampur for doing the needful.
With the aforesaid observation/direction, this writ petition stands disposed of.
The Registry of this Court is directed to provide a certified copy of this order, free of cost, to the learned Standing Counsel for communication to the authority concerned."
A perusal of the judgment and order dated 18.01.2020 indicates that the contention of the petitioners therein was that in spite of the order of this Court of fixing the instalments for repayment of the loan, the bank had not opened the seal of the banquet hall of the petitioners and did not allow them to run their business and hence it became difficult for them to repay the loan instalment. Considering the said submission, this Court had directed the respondent- bank to de-seal the banquet hall of the petitioners and permit them to carry out their business thereon. It was, however, observed that in case the petitioners were unable to pay the instalments fixed by this Court vide order dated 13.12.2019, it would be open for the respondent- Bank to proceed with the recovery by taking coercive measures.
In the present petition, the petitioners have stated that adequate opportunity of hearing have not been granted to them before putting seal on both the gates of the banquet hall on 13.12.2019. The petitioners have already deposited more than Rs.1 crore against the loan amount of Rs.95 lakhs between year 2014 to 2021 from all their resources, but due to high-handed attitude of the respondent no.5 i.e. the Bank, their entire business had been closed and they had suffered huge financial loss.
In essence, the prayer in the present writ petition is to remove the seal of the banquet hall and release physical possession of the same to the petitioners and further to direct the bank to issue No-dues certificate.
In none of the paragraphs of the writ petition, the petitioners have stated that they had adhered to the schedule of instalments fixed by this Court in the judgement and order dated 13.12.2019. On a pointed query made by the Court, learned counsels for the petitioner are not in a position to make any statement in this regard. It is, however, stated that since the payment of a substantial amount towards outstanding loan had already been made, it is incumbent upon the respondent no.5 to open the seal of the banquet hall.
At this stage, learned counsel for the respondent- bank submits that the petitioners have not approached this Court with clean hands, inasmuch as, they have concealed the judgement and order dated 19.01.2021 passed by this Court for rejection of the modification application/time extension application for modifying the schedule fixed in the judgment and order dated 13.12.2019.
Learned counsels for the petitioners showed ignorance about the order of rejection of the modification application.
We may further note that the petitioners had approached this Court thrice (in two writ petitions and one modification application). This Court had repeatedly directed the petitioners to adhere to the schedule of instalments fixed by the judgment and order dated 13.12.2019. The petitioners have not obeyed the orders of this Court and filed repeated writ petitions though proceedings under the SARFAESI Act had been initiated against him much earlier. We further find that the present writ petition is a third writ petition for the same relief.
The present petition is, therefore, dismissed for misuse of the process of the Court and having been filed by concealment of the material fact, with the cost of Rs.10,000/- to be deposited by the petitioners with the Registrar General, High Court, Allahabad, within a period of three weeks from today.
Order Date :- 2.7.2021
P Kesari
