R Piyarelall Iron And Steel Pvt Ltd vs Ram Prasad Agarwala And Ors
2022 Latest Caselaw 2404 Cal/2

ODC 4
                              ORDER SHEET
                            IA NO. GA/2/2022
                             IN EC/176/2021
                    IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA
                  ORDINARY ORIGINAL CIVIL JURISDICTION
                         COMMERCIAL DIVISION


                   R PIYARELALL IRON AND STEEL PVT LTD
                                    Vs
                      RAM PRASAD AGARWALA AND ORS


  BEFORE:
  The Hon'ble JUSTICE SHEKHAR B. SARAF
  Date: 12th September, 2022.


                                                                     Appearance:
                                                Mr. Ratnanko Banerjee, Sr. Adv.
                                                         Mr. Anirban Ray, Adv.
                                                           Mr. Ankan Rai, Adv.
                                                          Mr. S.N Pandey, Adv.
                                                          . . .for the petitioner.

                                                 Mr. Jayanta Kr. Mitra, Sr. Adv.
                                                         Mr. Joy Saha, Sr. Adv.
                                                 Mr. Subhasish Sengupta, Adv.
                                                   Mr. Debdut Mukherjee, Adv.
                                                     Ms. Nilanjana Adhya, Adv.
                                                    Mr. Kaushik Banerjee, Adv.
                                                         Ms. Sudipta Paul, Adv.
                                                        Ms. Rashmita Sen, Adv.
                                                         . . .for the respondent.

The Court: This is an application for release of a sum of Rs.1.48 crores

along with interest that is lying with the Punjab & Sind Bank to be released to

the applicant (award holder).

It is to be noted that by an order dated 7th December, 2021 this Court had

directed the judgment debtors to deposit a sum of Rs. 31,70,26,583/- by way of

cash deposit before the Registrar, Original side. However, this amount was not

deposited and on 28th February, 2022 further order was passed. The matter

traveled to the Division Bench and subsequently orders were passed by the

Division Bench. A further application being IA No. GA. 2 of 2022 was also made

by the Division Bench with regard to extension of the time of two months wherein

the Division Bench had directed that the term deposit shall not be encashed by

the award holders. An Extension of six months was sought by the award debtors

but the same was refused and no specific order has been passed by the Division

Bench in the last order dated 24th June, 2022. The relevant portion of the order

is delineated below:-

"In those circumstances, we modify our order dated 14th

March, 2022 by directing the bank to set apart the sum of Rs.1.48

crores without the appellant having any right on the fund or any part

of it or any interest accrued thereon, subject to any order that may

be passed in the section 34 application or in execution in respect

thereof.

This order is not to be construed as one staying execution or

the award for which a substantive order has to be obtained by the

appellant from the appropriate forum."

Under these circumstances, I see no reason to not grant the prayer made

in the said application for withdrawal of the said amount of Rs.1.48 crores by the

award holder.

The Punjab & Sind Bank, IBD Branch, Kolkata is directed to release the

said sum of Rs.1.48 crores along with interest lying in the term deposit to the

award holders within a period of two weeks from date.

With the above directions this GA No.2 of 2022 is disposed of.

(SHEKHAR B. SARAF, J.)

sp/