Ananya Wood Pvt. Ltd. And Anr vs Union Of India & Ors
2021 Latest Caselaw 189 Cal/2

                                     ORDER SHEET
                                 WPO NO. 41 OF 2021
                           IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA
                             Constitutional Writ Jurisdiction
                                    ORIGINAL SIDE


                           ANANYA WOOD PVT. LTD. AND ANR.
                                      Versus
                               UNION OF INDIA & ORS.


  BEFORE:
  The Hon'ble JUSTICE SABYASACHI BHATTACHARYYA
  Date : 23rd February , 2021

                                              Appearance :
                                              Mr. Jishnu Saha, Sr. Adv.,
                                              Mr. Shaunak Ghosh,
                                              Ms. Saheli Sen,
                                              Mr. Rajib Mullick,
                                              Mr. Rakesh Sankar,
                                              Advs., for the petitioner.

                                              Mr. P.K. Roy, Sr. Adv.,
                                              Mr. S.B. Bandyapadhyay,
                                              Adv., for the respondent no. 3 to 5.

The Court : Learned Senior Counsel appearing for the petitioners places reliance

on a judgment of the Supreme Court being Annexure P-1 at page 18 of the writ petition

where the Supreme Court held that the accounts which were not declared NPA till

August 31, 2020 shall not be declared as NPA till further orders. Vide communication

dated November 27, 2020, the respondent-bank intimated the petitioners that the

petitioners' account had been classified as NPA on September 9, 2020. It is submitted

that apart from there being other reasons for challenging the said communication on fact

and law, the said classification is palpably contrary to and in contravention of the

Supreme Court's order and is null and void.

Learned Counsel appearing for the respondent-bank hands up a copy of a email

communication dated February 22, 2021 which indicates a corrigendum by the bank,

rectifying the date of classification in the communication dated November 23, 2020 from

September 9, 2020 to July 26, 2020. Learned Counsel for the bank submits that, as

such, the impugned decision could not be in contravention of the Supreme Court's

order.

However, a prima facie question arises as to whether such subsequent

corrigendum was sufficiently backed by materials to resile from the position of the bank

taken on November 27, 2020 and was merely to align the date of classification with the

order of the Supreme Court. The writ petition is required to be heard on merits, inter

alia, on the above ground.

Accordingly, the respondents shall file their affidavit-in-opposition within three

weeks from date; reply, if any, shall be filed within one week thereafter. The matter shall

be enlisted next on March 30, 2021.

Any action taken in the meantime pursuant to the impugned classification of the

petitioners' account as NPA shall abide by the result of the writ petition.

(SABYASACHI BHATTACHARYYA, J.)

S.Das AR[CR]