Quorum: Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Shri Justice Anil Kumar Jukanti
Case Citation: (2024) ibclaw.in 130 HC
The batch of 3 Writ Appeals were preferred by the suspended Board of Directors of M/s. Ind Bharath Power (Madras) Limited challenging the order passed by the Ld. Single Judge Bench upholding the decision/order of the First Level Committee of REC Limited in declaring the Appellants as wilful defaulters.
The Appellants alleged that the First Level Committee has acted in contrary to the procedure laid down in the RBI Master Circular dated 01.07.2015, as firstly the Appellants have not been informed about the constitution of First Level Committee and, secondly, there has been delegation of power as the decision of the First Level Committee was communicated to the Appellants by a member of the Committee. Thereupon, the Sr. Advocate for Appellants relied upon the landmark judgment of ‘Jah Developers’ highlighting that declaration of Appellants as wilful defaulter is a direct violation of fundamental rights. The Sr. Advocate representing the Respondent outrightly highlighted that the decision of the First Level Committee is well within the guidelines of the RBI Master Circular and that the order of the First Level Committee would attain finality only when it is confirmed by the review committee. Thus, the Appellants have preferred the Writ Appeal at a very premature stage and hence deserves no indulgence by the Hon’ble Division Bench of the Telangana High Court presided by the Chief Justice.
The Hon’ble Court after hearing the submissions of the parties and considering the guidelines of RBI Master Circular asserted that the Master Circular does not contain any requirement that the order passed by the First Level Committee should disclose the constitution of the First Level Committee and further held that till the time the provisional order of First Level Committee is not confirmed by the review committee, it is not possible to infer that any rights of the Appellants have been violated.
Moreover, the Hon’ble Court also held that the case of Jah Developers is of no assistance in facts and circumstances of the case at hand. Thereby, the Division Bench upheld the order of the Ld. Single Bench and while disposing off the Appeals, granted liberty to the Appellants to approach the review committee within a period of 3 weeks from the date of receipt of the order.
Read here complete summary: https://ibclaw.in/mr-dumpala-madhusudhana-reddy-vs-rec-ltd-telangana-high-court
