Axis Bank Limited Vs Tarun Kanti Ghosh (Calcutta High Court)
Summary: Axis Bank Limited challenged an ad interim injunction granted by the learned Trial Court in respect of an immovable property admittedly given as security for a loan taken by the plaintiff/respondent. The appellant submitted that the bank had already issued a notice under Section 13(4) of the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002, and that a notice under Section 13(2) had also been issued before filing of the suit. It was therefore contended that the injunction was barred by Section 34 of the SARFAESI Act, 2002.
The appellant also contended that the Trial Court had granted the injunction without appropriate reasons, that the condition requiring the respondent to deposit Rs. 20,000/- every month effectively rewrote the loan contract, and that the dispute was a commercial dispute requiring consideration of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015 and the appropriate territorial jurisdiction. The respondent submitted, among other things, that no Section 13(4) notice had been received at the relevant time and that the subsequent extension of the injunction had not been separately challenged.
Calcutta High Court first condoned the delay in filing the appeal after finding the ground stated in the condonation application plausible and finding no mala fides attributable to the appellant. On the merits, the Court held that Section 34 of the SARFAESI Act, 2002 squarely barred the civil court from granting the injunction.
