Case Law Details
Sandeep Kabra Vs Reserve Bank of India (Calcutta High Court)
The Calcutta high court in this case was dealing with challenge to declaration of the petitioner herein as a wilful defaulter vide order passed in October,2018 when the counsel for the bank challenged maintainability on the ground of delay. The bank argued that the immediate cause of the writ was the lookout circular which was issued against the petitioner whereupon the petitioner was not allowed to travel abroad.
The writ petition suffers from gross and inordinate delay which is made even more stark by the lack of reasons for explaining the delay.
The effect of delay in a discretionary jurisdiction exercised by this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India was dealt with by the Supreme Court in State of Maharashtra vs. Digambar; (1995) 4 SCC 683 and Express Publications (Madurai) Limited vs. Union of India; (2004) 11 SCC 526. The Supreme Court dwelt on the absence of explanation as to “blameworthy conduct” of undue delay or laches on the part of the respondent before the Court. In Express Publications, the Supreme Court held that the Court may decline discretionary relief if the person aggrieved has slept over his rights for a long number of years. State Bank of India vs. Jah Developers Private Limited; (2019) 6 SCC 787 which dealt with the impact of a declaration of willful defaulter on the fundamental rights of a borrower under Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution does not assist the petitioners since there was no finding of inordinate delay on the part of the respondents before the Supreme Court.
The court noted that the petitioner having been allowed to travel abroad by this court for attending marriage has filed the writ petition as a strategic move and thus dismissed the writ petition on ground of delay as held in several decisions of Supreme Court where the absence of explanation as to blameworthy conduct of undue delay or latches was held to be good ground for not entertaining writ petition.
Please become a Premium member. If you are already a Premium member, login here to access the full content.
Author Bio
