Orissa High Court: In an application under Articles and of the seeking a direction to the State Bank of India (‘Bank’) for returning the original mortgaged title deeds submitted by the petitioner at the time of availing the loan, Dr. SK Panigrahi, J. allowed the petition and directed the Bank to return title deeds of the petitioner forthwith, at any rate within one month. The Court stated that after his retirement, the petitioner was forced to endure daily struggles to recover his original documents, facing undue hardship and inconvenience, hence the Bank was directed to pay Rs. 1,00,000/- as compensation.
Background
In 1986, the petitioner availed a Rs.72,000/- loan from the Bank. As per the requirement, the petitioner had mortgaged his property’s original title deeds. Since the petitioner failed to pay the loan in time, the loan account became NPA. Hence, the Bank initiated proceedings before a Court in Cuttack for recovery of Rs. 2,50,592.25. Upon the institution of the aforesaid proceeding, the Bank as per the guidelines of the Reserve Bank of India floated a One Time Settlement Scheme for settlement of the loan accounts already declared as NPA.
The petitioner applied for settlement of the loan outstanding dues as per the said scheme. Accordingly, the loan outstanding dues of the petitioner were settled at a sum of Rs.1,06,337/-. A communication in that regard was also made to the petitioner by the Assistant General Manager vide letter dated 26-07-2010. The AGM also issued a “No Due Certificate” in favour of the petitioner. Subsequently, the petitioner approached the Bank for documents i.e. original mortgaged title deeds. However, despite several efforts, the Bank did not return the documents to the petitioner.
Analysis and Decision
The Court noted that the petitioner made numerous representations to the Bank officials, relentlessly seeking the return of his documents, but his efforts were met with disdainful neglect. Despite his persistence, including frequent personal visits and countless letters, the original documents were never returned. The Court said that Bank authorities were playing hide and seek with the petitioner. The Court called the Bank’s approach in such matters as ‘casual’.
The Court stated that since the loan account was closed by repayment and the Bank’s interest consequent to the mortgage of the property was fully protected, the title deed deposited by the petitioner with the Bank creating a mortgage was no longer required.
The Court added that the Bank’s claim that they could not return the title deed due to the loan account being classified as NPA and the ongoing proceedings, the Court refused to accept the same, as the loan account was settled and closed. Hence, considering the hardships faced in retrieving the documents despite no fault of his own, and his age, the Court directed the Bank to pay the petitioner a sum of Rs.1,00,000/- as compensation within 30 days from the date of presentation of a copy of this judgment. Additionally, the Bank was directed to take prompt and effective measures to return the original or duplicate documents to the petitioner within one month.
[Sujit Kumar Ghosh v. Union of India, W.P.(C) No.24522 of 2024, decided on: 08-11-2024]
Judgment authored by: Justice SK Panigrahi
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