Date:27/10/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/10/27/stories/2006102713960400.htm

New Delhi

Court dismisses bank's appeal

Staff Reporter

Recovery of dues from a family

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has dismissed an appeal by Standard Chartered Bank against a Single-Judge Bench of the Court directing the Delhi police to go ahead with investigations into alleged hiring of musclemen by the bank to recover dues from the family of a credit card holder.

The credit card holder had died after raising a bill for a certain amount on the card.

In September this year, a Division Bench of the Court comprising Justice Vijender Jain and Justice Kailash Gambhir had vacated a stay on the investigation upholding the direction of the Single Bench to the police to register an FIR and probe the allegations by Yogesh Sharma, an Associate Professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University here and brother of the deceased, Rakesh Sharma.

Yogesh Sharma in his petition had alleged that the bank authorities through their musclemen had criminally intimidated him and his family members to recover the dues raised by his late brother.

"We express our strong disapproval of the practice being adopted by banks, including the petitioner bank, to recover their dues,'' the Bench observed.

"Banks and financial institutions have every right to recover their dues but they are not only expected but bound to take recourse to the law of the land for recovery of their money,'' the Bench said.

Rakesh Sharma had purchased an air ticket through the credit card of the bank here and travelled to Mumbai without informing his family in 2004.

The bank, however, had blocked the operation of his credit card following the lodging of a "missing" report by Yogesh Sharma.

Rakesh had later died in Mumbai.