Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Tuesday upheld the action of the State Bank of India in forfeiting Rs 83 lakh of an auction purchaser. A division bench comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Anil Kumar was dealing with writ plea filed by Rohit Bansal, a businessman and successful bidder at an auction of a property carried out by the SBI under the Sarfaesi ( Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest) Act.
After depositing 25 per cent of the bid amount forthwith in March 2020, the petitioner sought extension of time but did not make subsequent payments on the ground that the property was involved in a civil litigation.
Senior counsel L. Ravichander pointed out that the action of the bank in not disclosing the civil litigation amounted to a colourable exercise of power. He also pointed out that the sale of the property in “as is where is” condition was not an excuse for the bank to not disclose vital facts.
M. Srikanth, appearing for the SBI, pointed out that the charge on the property in the civil suit was after the bank had initiated its action. He also said that the petitioner had failed to establish the bonafides of the payment of the remaining amount after being granted time by the court.
Dismissing the writ petition, Chief Justice Aradhe said that only in extraordinary circumstances would the court be inclined to interfere in such forfeiture. The conduct of the petitioner would not warrant the exercise of such extraordinary power.
