PMC Bank: Bombay HC agrees to hear PIL seeking relief from RBI order

The Bombay High Court on Thursday agreed to hear the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) which sought relief from an RBI order of Rs 10,000 withdrawal limit in Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank. The plea was filed by a Mumbai-based NGO, Consumer Action Network (CAN). CAN is fighting the case on the behalf of account holders who are facing the brunt of the RBI's order which was passed a few weeks ago. The petition was first filed by the non-profit organization on September 30.

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RBI order

The RBI had rolled out an order stating that PMC Bank will not do any business for the next six months and will cap depositors withdrawals at Rs 10,000. It is believed that this order has left an impact on the customers of financial institutions who are traders and daily wage earners. Not only that, as many as two PMC Bank customers died within 24 hours, including one Fattomal Punjabi and a 51-year-old former employee of Jet Airways named Sanjay Gulati. Their families have alleged that they were "under stress" over the crisis in PMC Bank. Also, two former officials of the bank's regulator and six PMC bank employees are at present under the scanner of EOW for their alleged involvement in the scam.

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A few weeks ago, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had seized and identified movable and immovable assets worth more than Rs 3,830 crore owned by Housing Development and Infrastructure Limited (HDIL) in connection with the case. The Mumbai court also has sent former PMC chairman Waryam Singh and HDIL promoters Rakesh Wadhawan and Sarang Wadhawan to police custody in alleged connection with the bank fraud case. The Esplanade court in Mumbai remanded the trio to police custody till October 16. According to the police, PMC bank officials gave loans to HDIL between 2008 and 2019 despite no repayment of the previous loans.

READ | Irregularities In PMC Bank Working Will Be Probed: Mumbai Police Chief

Letter permitting sale of assets

The Wadhawans also wrote a letter to Reserve Bank of India (RBI), ED, and other investigative agencies to sell off all their assets so that they could repay the loans. The letter listed all the automobiles owned by the members of the family and later asked the authorities to take timely action by disposing off the assets to get the fair market value for the same. The letter also stated that, "We further give our unconditional consent for the appropriation of the money received from the sale of these assets to be adjusted and appropriated towards the principal laon amount procured by us and respective companies. It is the larger public interest that the assets are disposed off so as to mitigate the present situation."

The letter concluded with a statement that assured the authorities that they will not be faced with any hindrance to complete the process of monetizing the assets. 

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(With inputs from ANI)