J.RAJIV SUBRAMANIYAN vs. M/S PANDIYAS .

1 REPORTABLE IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION CIVIL APPEAL NO. 3865 OF 2014 (Arising out of S.L.P.(C) No.24915 of 2011) J.Rajiv Subramaniyan & Anr. … Appellants VERSUS M/s. Pandiyas & Ors. ...Respondents WITH CIVIL APPEAL NO. 3866 OF 2014 (Arising out of S.L.P.(C) No.25448 of 2012) J U D G M E N T JUDGMENT SURINDER SINGH NIJJAR,J. 1. Leave granted. 2. These special leave petitions are directed against the th final judgment and order dated 14 June, 2011 passed by the Madras High Court (Madurai Bench) in W.A.No.417 of 2011 dismissing the aforesaid Writ Page 1 2 Appeal filed by the appellants. 3. We have heard the learned counsel for the parties at length.

on behalf of the appellants has submitted that although many issues have been raised in the SLP, he is not pressing the point that the High Court erred in entertaining the writ petition filed by respondent Nos.1 and 2. The point with regard to the maintainability of the writ petition was taken on the basis of a judgment of this Court in the case of United Bank of India vs. 1 Satyawati Tondon & Ors. . It was urged before the High Court that an alternative remedy being available JUDGMENT to respondent Nos.1 and 2 under the Securitization and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002 (hereinafter referred to as “SARFAESI Act, 2002), the writ petition would not be maintainable. The second issue with regard to the maintainability was based on the fact that earlier 1 [2010 (8) SCC 110] Page 2 3 respondent Nos. 1 and 2 had filed Writ Petition Nos.5027-28 of 2006 challenging the auction sale rd notice dated 23 May, 2006. However, these writ

Court did not give any liberty to respondent Nos. 1 and 2 to file fresh writ petition. Mr. Desai very fairly submitted that it is not necessary to examine the issues on maintainability of the writ petition, as the entire issue is before this Court on merits. 5. Mr. Ashok Desai has pointed out that respondent Nos.1 and 2 had taken various loans from respondent No.3-Bank. Upon failure of Respondent Nos. 1 and 2 to JUDGMENT repay the loan, the assets of respondent Nos.1 and 2 which had been mortgaged with respondent No.3-Bank were classified as non-performing assets (NPA). Inspite of such action having been taken by respondent No.3- Bank, respondent Nos.1 and 2 failed to regularize the th bank account. Therefore, on 8 June, 2005, the bank- respondent No.3 issued notice under Section 13(2) of Page 3 4 the SARFAESI Act, 2002 followed by a possession notice th on 12 January, 2006 under Section 13(4) of the said Act. Respondent Nos.1 and 2 challenged the aforesaid

4175/2006, 5027/2006 and 5028/2006. In the th meantime, auction sale was fixed on 7 July, 2006. But no sale took place as there were no bidders. On th 28 August, 2006, respondent Nos. 1 and 2 sought cancellation of the auction notice and sought permission of respondent No.3-Bank to sell the secured assets by private Treaty. It was stated that as on that date the outstanding balance due to the bank was a sum of Rs.1.57 crores. A request was made to break up JUDGMENT the aforesaid amount as follows : (a) Machineries of M/s. Suruthi Fabrics - 0.40 lacs (b) Land and building of M/s. Suruthi Fabrics - 0.70 lacs (c) Pandias Garment Factory land and Building - 0.47 lacs And Suruthi Fabrics 5.51 acres Land 6. Permission was sought to sell the assets as stated Page 4 5 th above within six months. On 11 September, 2006, respondent Nos.1 and 2 made a payment of Rs.42 lacs to respondent No.3-Bank, by selling machinery with the

also made for an extension of two moths for paying the remaining amount after selling the secured assets. On th 8 December, 2006, respondent No.3-Bank gave approval for private sale of the immovable property to the appellants and for issue of sale certificate. On the very same date, the secured assets were sold in favour of the petitioner for a consideration of 123.10 lacs. It is not disputed by Mr. Vikas Singh, learned senior counsel appearing for Respondent No.3, that the sale was JUDGMENT affected through Ge-Winn Management Company, Resolution Agents. This is also evident from the proceedings of the meeting held between respondent th No.3-Bank and Ge-Winn on 8 December, 2006. 7. We may point out here that the reserve price of the secured assets was fixed at 123 lacs. Sale deed was Page 5 6 executed in favour of the appellants by respondent th No.3 on 20 December, 2006, as the entire th considerations have been paid on 15 December, 2006.

informed by respondent No.3-Bank that the secured assets had been sold for more than the amount offered th by them in the letter dated 28 August, 2006. At that stage, respondent Nos.1 and 2 filed Writ Petition No.325 of 2007 without disclosing that the earlier Writ Petition Nos.5027-28/2006 challenging the auction rd notice dated 23 May, 2006 had been withdrawn without the court giving liberty to respondent Nos. 1 and 2 to file a fresh writ petition. JUDGMENT 8. Upon completion of the proceedings inspite of the preliminary objections taken by the appellants, the learned Single Judge allowed the writ petitions. The sale in favour of the petitioner was held to be vitiated on the ground that respondent No.3-Bank failed to follow the mandatory provisions of Rules 8(5), 8(6) and 9(2) of the Page 6 7 Security Interest (Enforcement) Rules, 2002 (hereinafter referred to as ‘Rules, 2002’). But a direction was issued to refund the amount paid by the

annum from April, 2007. 9. Aggrieved by the aforesaid order, the appellants filed Writ Appeal No.4127/2011 in the High Court, which has also been dismissed. 10. Mr. Ashok Desai submits that the petitioner is a bona fide purchaser and has paid the full consideration. Sale deed has been duly executed. Possession of the JUDGMENT property is with the appellants since 2006. Therefore, respondent Nos.1 and 2 should not be permitted at this stage to claim that the sale is vitiated on the ground that it has been affected through an agent of respondent No.3-Bank, namely, Ge-Winn. Mr. Desai submitted that the Single Judge as well as the Division Bench have wrongly held that there has been violation Page 7 8 of Rules 8(5), 8(6), 8(8) and 9(2) of the Rules, 2002. Mr. Desai further submitted that it would be equitable to permit the petitioner to keep the plot which is adjacent

case, the sale has been effected in violation of the JUDGMENT aforesaid rules. Both the learned Single Judge as well as the Division Bench have come to the conclusion that the provisions of the aforesaid rules have not been followed. It is not disputed by any of the parties that there is no agreement between respondent Nos. 1 and 2 and respondent No.3-Bank, in writing, to affect the sale by Private Treaty. Mr. Vikas Singh, learned Page 8 9 senior counsel appearing for respondent No.3-Bank, however, pointed out that the respondent Nos.1 and 2 had filed a review petition in which it was averred that

Private Treaty. Therefore, according to Mr. Vikas Singh, respondent Nos. 1 and 2 cannot now be heard to say that they had not given their consent to affect the sale by Private Treaty. We are unable to accept the submission made by Mr. Vikas Singh that there is no violation of the Rules, 2002. In our opinion, the findings recorded by the learned Single Judge as well as the Division Bench of the High Court that there has been a violation of Rules, 2002 are perfectly justified. JUDGMENT 12. This Court in the case of Mathew Varghese Vs. 2 M.Amritha Kumar & Ors. examined the procedure required to be followed by the banks or other financial institutions when the secured assets of the borrowers are sought to be sold for settlement of the dues of the 2 2014 (2) Scale 331 Page 9 10 banks/financial institutions. The Court examined in detail the provisions of the SARFAESI Act, 2002. The Court also examined the detailed procedure to be

Rules, 2002. This Court took notice of Rule 8, which relates to Sale of immovable secured assets and Rule 9 which relates to time of sale, issue of sale certificate and delivery of possession etc. With regard to Section 13(1), this Court observed that Section 13(1) of SARFAESI Act, 2002 gives a free hand to the secured creditor, for the purpose of enforcing the secured interest without the intervention of Court or Tribunal. But such enforcement should be strictly in conformity JUDGMENT with the provisions of the SARFAESI Act, 2002. Thereafter, it is observed as follows:- “A reading of Section 13(1) , therefore, is clear to the effect that while on the one hand any SECURED CREDITOR may be entitled to enforce the SECURED ASSET created in its favour on its own without resorting to any court proceedings or approaching the Tribunal, such enforcement should be in conformity with the other provisions of the SARFAESI Act.” Page 10 11 13. This Court further observed that the provision contained in Section 13(8) of the SARFAESI Act, 2002 is

much as, ownership of the secured assets is a constitutional right vested in the borrowers and protected under Article 300A of the Constitution of India. Therefore, the secured creditor as a trustee of the secured asset can not deal with the same in any manner it likes and such an asset can be disposed of only in the manner prescribed in the SARFAESI Act, 2002. Therefore, the creditor should ensure that the borrower was clearly put on notice of the date and time JUDGMENT by which either the sale or transfer will be effected in order to provide the required opportunity to the borrower to take all possible steps for retrieving his property. Such a notice is also necessary to ensure that the process of sale will ensure that the secured assets will be sold to provide maximum benefit to the borrowers. The notice is also necessary to ensure that Page 11 12 the secured creditor or any one on its behalf is not allowed to exploit the situation by virtue of proceedings initiated under the SARFAESI Act, 2002. Thereafter, in

“ 27. Therefore, by virtue of the stipulations contained under the provisions of the SARFAESI Act, in particular, Section 13(8) , any sale or transfer of a SECURED ASSET, cannot take place without duly informing the borrower of the time and date of such sale or transfer in order to enable the borrower to tender the dues of the SECURED CREDITOR with all costs, charges and expenses and any such sale or transfer effected without complying with the said statutory requirement would be a constitutional violation and nullify the ultimate sale.” 14. As noticed above, this Court also examined Rules 8 JUDGMENT and 9 of the Rules, 2002. On a detailed analysis of Rules 8 and 9(1), it has been held that any sale effected without complying with the same would be unconstitutional and, therefore, null and void . 15. In the present case, there is an additional reason for declaring that sale in favour of the appellant was a Page 12 13 nullity. Rule 8(8) of the aforesaid Rules is as under:- “Sale by any method other than public auction or public tender, shall be on such terms as may be settled between the parties in writing.” 16. It is not disputed before us that there were no terms settled in writing between the parties that the sale can be affected by Private Treaty. In fact, the borrowers – respondent Nos. 1 and 2 were not even called to the joint meeting between the Bank – th Respondent No.3 and Ge-Winn held on 8 December, 2006. Therefore, there was a clear violation of the aforesaid Rules rendering the sale illegal. JUDGMENT 17. It must be emphasized that generally proceedings under the SARFAESI Act, 2002 against the borrowers are initiated only when the borrower is in dire-straits. The provisions of the SARFAESI Act, 2002 and the Rules, 2002 have been enacted to ensure that the secured asset is not sold for a song. It is expected that all the banks and financial institutions which resort to Page 13 14 the extreme measures under the SARFAESI Act, 2002 for sale of the secured assets to ensure, that such sale of the asset provides maximum benefit to the borrower

creditors are expected to take bonafide measures to ensure that there is maximum yield from such secured assets for the borrowers. In the present case, Mr. Dhruv Mehta has pointed out that sale consideration is only Rs.10,000/- over the reserve price whereas the property was worth much more. It is not necessary for us to go into this question as, in our opinion, the sale is null and void being in violation of the provision of Section 13 of the SARFAESI Act, 2002 and Rules 8 and 9 JUDGMENT of the Rules, 2002. 18. We, therefore, have no hesitation in upholding the judgments of the learned Single Judge and the Division Bench of the High Court to the effect that the sale th effected in favour of the appellants on 18 December, 2006 is liable to be set aside. Page 14 15 19. This now brings us to moulding the relief in the peculiar facts and circumstances of this case. 20. As noticed earlier, Mr. Ashok Desai had emphasized on behalf of the appellants that no blame at all can be attributed to them. The bank had decided to sell the immovable properties to the appellants for Rs.1,23,10,000/- against the reserve price of Rs.1,23,00,000. This is evident from the joint meeting th of the bank held with Ge-Winn on 10 December, 2006, wherein it is observed as follows:- “Referring to the above in the presence of the undersigned it has been decided to effect the sale to M/s. Susee Automobiles Pvt. Ltd., Madurai and Smt. Nirmala Jeyablan, W/o Shri Jayabaaalan, No.4, S.V. Nagar, S.S. Colony, Madurai for a consideration of Rs.123.10 lakhs (Rupees one crore twenty three lakhs and ten thousand only) against the reserve price of Rs.123.00 lakhs and issue Sale Certificate for registration under private treaty.” JUDGMENT 21. Mr. Desai had also pointed out that the borrowers Page 15 16 -Respondent No.1 and 2 had evaluated the property at Rs.117 lakhs. The evaluation was acknowledged by Respondent Nos. 1 and 2 in the letter dated

fixed based upon the aforesaid figures. The appellants bought the property for more than the reserve price. The appellants paid the entire consideration within th three days of the sale, i.e., on 15 December, 2006. th The Sale Deed was executed in their favour on 20 December, 2006. Possession was admittedly delivered th on 20 December, 2006 also. The appellants have also incurred substantial loss as they have been unnecessarily dragged into litigation. He pointed out JUDGMENT that the appellants have in fact incurred losses of Rs.3 crores as they were deprived of using the property in view of the interim orders passed by the High Court and they were forced to take other property on monthly rent of Rs.3 lakhs from January 2007. He, therefore, submitted that the proposal made by the appellants for being permitted to keep the plot adjacent to the Page 16 17 property already owned by them, be accepted. In the alternative, learned senior counsel submitted that the High Court has unnecessarily reduced the amount of

with the bank would bear only 4% interest. He submitted that the appellants are entitled to 18% compound interest since the date the amount was deposited till refund. 22. On the other hand, Mr. Dhruv Mehta pointed out that property of Respondent No.1 has been sold for a ridiculously low price, as the bank is interested only in regularizing the account of the borrower. He has JUDGMENT submitted that respondent Nos. 1 and 2 are prepared to compensate the appellants, to a reasonable extent, but not to the extent claimed by Mr. Desai. 23. On the other hand, Mr. Vikas Singh has submitted that in case the sale is to be set aside and the properties have to be returned to the borrowers, Page 17 18 the dues of the bank also have to be secured, which are now in the region of Rs.4 crores.

learned counsel for the parties. 25. Initially on our suggestion, respondent Nos. 1 and 2 had quantified the amount in accordance with the directions issued by the learned Single Judge. The learned Single Judge had ordered refund of Rs.1,41,00,000/-, (Representing Rs.1,23,10,000/- towards Sale Price and Rs.18,90,000/- towards Stamp Duty with interest @9% per annum from April 2007). JUDGMENT However, since we had accepted the second alternative (partially) of Mr. Ashok Desai, the appellants and respondents have jointly submitted the following chart:-

Page 18 19 26. Mr. Dhruv Mehta has stated that Respondent Nos. 1 and 2 are prepared to refund the sale amount paid by the appellants as Sale Price together with 18% simple

amount spent on Stamp Duty shall also be refunded to the appellants. The total amount shall be paid to the th appellants by 15 June, 2014. Mr. Desai had pointed out that the amount deposited with the bank, which is said to be lying in a FDR Bearing 8.25% per annum ought to be refunded by the bank to the appellants. Upon the entire amount being repaid to the appellants, the possession of the property purchased by the appellants will be delivered to the Respondent Nos.1 JUDGMENT and 2. 27. Insofar as the submission of Mr. Vikas Singh learned senior counsel is concerned we are unable to accept the same in the facts and circumstances of this case It would be relevant to point out that the learned Single Judge of the High Court after holding that the sale in question was invalid, directed making of Page 19 20 payments by respondent Nos. 1 and 2 to respondent No.3 bank with clear direction that on such payment, insofar as the bank is concerned its dues shall stand

payment as directed which was accepted by respondent No.3 bank, insofar as respondent No.3 bank is concerned it even accepted the said judgment and did not file any appeal thereagainst. Only the appellant filed the appeal. Though the order of the learned Single Judge about the validity of the sale had been affirmed, the Division Bench interfered with the other direction of the learned Single Judge which should not have been done as bank had not challenged the order of the JUDGMENT learned Single Judge. We are, therefore, of the opinion that in the facts of this case, once the payment is made to the appellant by respondent Nos.1 and 2 in the manner stated hereinafter, the possession of the property shall be delivered to the respondent Nos.1 and 2 with no further liability towards the bank 28. In view of the aforesaid, we hold that the sale in Page 20 21 th favour of the appellants dated 18 December, 2006 and the subsequent delivery of possession to the appellants is null and void. The sale is accordingly set aside. The

property purchased by them under the Sale Deed dated th 20 December, 2006 to Respondent Nos. 1 and 2 immediately upon receiving the entire amount as directed hereunder:- (i) The State Bank of India – Respondent No.3 directed to refund the entire proceeds of the FDR in which the sale consideration was deposited together with accrued interest forthwith. (ii) The Respondent Nos. 1 and 2 will ensure that the JUDGMENT entire amount due to the appellants is paid on or th before 15 June, 2014. (iii) Upon receipt of the entire amount, the possession shall be delivered to Respondent Nos. 1 and 2. 29 . With these observations, the appeals are disposed of with no order as to costs. Page 21 22 ….………………………..J. [Surinder Singh Nijjar] …………………………..J. [A.K.Sikri] New Delhi; March 14, 2014. JUDGMENT Page 22 JUDGMENT Page 23