Bengalruru: Chief Secretary Arvind Jadhav, who is already having to fend off charges of bending the rules to help his family grab property in Anekal, may have some more explaining to do.
Documents accessed by Deccan Chronicle show the Jadhavs have had a running legal battle with the state-run Karnataka State Finance Corporation (KSFC) over repayment of a Rs 35 crore loan taken in 1989 for a granite business that was declared bankrupt within a year of starting. Ironically, the MD of the corporation now reports to Mr Arvind Jadhav.
The case dates back to 1989, when a company, Yadu Granites was incorporated with Mr Arvind Jadhav's wife, Anita and father-in-law, Sadashiva Rao, among the five directors appointed. According to sources, the company took a loan of around Rs 90 lakh by mortgaging property on Bull Temple Road, but within a year declared losses and ultimately bankruptcy. Since the tenure for mortgaging was seven years, the corporation didn't ask for repayment of the loan immediately. But in 1998, it issued a demand notice for repayment and when the company showed no inclination to do so, it began a recovery process, declaring it a Non Performing Asset (NPA) and moving to auction the mortgaged property. The family however, challenged the KSFC 's move before the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT), which eventually ruled in favour of the corporation, saying it was entitled to recover the money loaned to the Jadhavs by selling the pledged property, on January 24 2014.
Although the family argued that Mr Sadashiva Rao had died and other relatives could not be deprived of their right to the mortgaged property, the tribunal did not buy their claim.
The Jadhavs then approached the city civil court, which however, refused to hear the case on jurisdictional grounds and issued an order to this effect on January 21 this year. Meanwhile, the Chief Secretary's family has not paid back any part of the loan taken during the long drawn out legal process, for the past 25 years, giving its detractors more fodder to point fingers at it, alleging that few companies shut shop within a year of being started and after being sanctioned such a heavy loan. They also point out that the outstanding on the Rs 98 lakh loan is today a whopping Rs 35 crore with the accumulated interest.
