Bank Fined For Selling Auctioned Property

Court slaps fine on bank for selling auctioned land-
TOI-29th September 2013
CHENNAI: The Madras high court has imposed an exemplary cost of 1 lakh on Indian Bank for having accepted deposit money from a third party for a property which had been auctioned and sold to another person by the bank itself.

Slamming the bankers and doubting their intentions, the court also cautioned that such conduct of a nationalised bank would result in erosion of public trust on the institution. "This conduct of the bank will certainly create a fear in the minds of the public to participate in auctions conducted by banks. By this kind of deprecatory action of the bank, the confidence level of the public in nationalised banks will certainly get diluted," observed a division bench comprising Justice K Suguna and Justice M Duraiswamy.

The matter relates to a petition filed by V S Muthupandian and S Chandresan saying though they were the confirmed auction purchasers of a property mortgaged to the Thousand Lights branch of Indian Bank, the bank authorities had received deposit money from third parties and did not give them possession of the land. They charged the bank with attempting to defraud them as well as creditors.

Manickchand Balecha and Kiran Kanwar, who were guarantors and owners respectively of the property, however, told the court that the authorised officer of the bank had played fraud as they had neither availed themselves of any loan nor did they stand guarantors for any loan secured by any person.

Smelling fraud, the division bench pointed out that the Debts Recovery Appellate Tribunal (DRAT) had set aside the auction sale on the ground that Manickchand Balecha and Kiran Kanwar had never deposited the original documents of the property to the bank.

Wondering what prevented the duo from establishing their case before the Debts Recovery Tribunal (DRT) and not the DRAT, the judges blamed the bank for the chaos. "The bank is the sole cause for all these chaos and confusion."

Directing the bank to immediately return the money received from the third parties, the judges said: "In order to prevent nationalised banks from involving themselves in unhealthy practice, as in the present case, at least in future, this cost of 1 lakh is imposed on the bank, to be paid to the third party."

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Court-slaps-fine-on-bank-for-selling-auctioned-land/articleshow/23226394.cms

Nagpur-based coal contractor booked for filing Rs 1.5 crore fake bank guarantee

YAVATMAL: Wani police on Friday booked a Nagpur-based coal contractor for filing fake bank guarantee to the tune of Rs 1.5 crore for getting the work in the Ghonsa coal field under Wani North Area sector of Western Coal Limited (WCL).

According to police sources, Sandeepsingh Tejpalsing Arora, the director of BNS Infra, bagged the work after furnishing a bank guarantee of Rs1,45,73,548 to WCL.

An enquiry conducted by senior WCL officials found that the accused allegedly forged the name of the bank manager and his signature on the fake bank guarantee.

Wani North Area Manager Pavankumar Laxmikant Mishra has lodged a complaint with the Wani police station. The police have booked Arora under sections 420, 467, 468 and 471 of the IPC.

Wani police confirmed the receipt of the complaint and said that they would arrest the accused if they find any evidence against Arora.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/Nagpur-based-coal-contractor-booked-for-filing-Rs-1-5-crore-fake-bank-guarantee/articleshow/23225587.cms