Allowed

L and T Finance Ltd. v. Gopalji Heavy Lifters and 5 Ors. and the Court Receiver and the Mahanagar Co-Op.Bank Ltd.(Applicant)

Bombay HC28 Feb 2018CHS/975/2017

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

Single judge allowed impleadment of Mahanagar Cooperative Bank Ltd. in an execution application filed by L&T Finance. The judge ordered a stay on the Court Receiver and kept all contentions regarding rival charging liens open, directing L&T Finance to file a substantive application to challenge the bank's charge.

What did the court decide?

Chamber Summons made absolute impleading Mahanagar Cooperative Bank Ltd. and staying the Court Receiver until further orders.

L and T Finance Ltd. Vs Gopalji Heavy Lifters and 5… — Execution and Attachment | Bombay HC (2018)

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922-CHS975-17+.DOC

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Atul

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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY ORDINARY ORIGINAL CIVIL JURISDICTION CHAMBER SUMMONS NO. 975 OF 2017

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IN

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EXECUTION APPLICATION NO. 2590 OF 2015

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IN

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ARBITRATION NO. 1073 OF 2013 WITH

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CHAMBER SUMMONS (L) NO. 1271 OF 2017

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L&T Finance Ltd…Applicant
Versus
Gopalji Heavy Lifters & Ors…Respondents
And
The Mahanagar Coop Bank Ltd...Applicant

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Ms SI Joshi, with Nikita Pawar, i/b SI Joshi & Co., for the Applicant.
Mr Zal Andhyarjuna, with Maithili Parikh, I/b SM Gaikwad, for the
Applicant in CHS/975/2017.

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Mr Sahil Saiyed, with Nikhil Apte, i/b Wadia Ghandy & Co., for the
Applicant in CHSL/1271/2017

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CORAM: G.S. PATEL, J DATED: 28th February 2018

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PC:-

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1.This is an impleadment action on behalf of the Mahanagar
Cooperative Bank Limited. It is filed in Execution Application No.

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Page 1 of 4

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28th February 2018

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922-CHS975-17+.DOC

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2590 of 2015 moved by L&T Finance. The Respondents are
Judgment Debtors under an arbitral award. The Mahanagar
Cooperative Bank seeks impleadment because it has obtained and
got registered through the Tahasildar a charge in its own name in
respect of the four properties listed at Serial Nos. (i) to (iv) of
paragraph 2 at pages 2 and 3 of the Affidavit in Support. All these
lands are at Panvel.

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2.After very many hearings and Affidavits, it emerges that the
Mahanagar Cooperate Bank gave as many as nine different loans to
the Respondent No. 1 and associated companies. Six of these nine
loans were cleared and closed. Three loans remained outstanding.
Loan Account No. EMIHYP/30 of 11th August 2011 is in respect of
Respondent No. 1 and the balance amount was Rs. 1,73,41,689/- as
on 31st December 2017. Loan Account No. EMIHYP/34 of 21st
October 2011 was in the name of Gopalji Infrastructure Solutions
and balance was Rs. 4,39,12,247.21 as of that date. The last unpaid
loan was also in Gopal Infrastructure Solution’s name, with Loan
Account No. EMIHYP/31 of 30th May 2012, and the outstanding
amount was Rs. 4,99,93,727.12. Respondents Nos. 2, 4 and 5 are all
partners of Gopalji Infrastructure Solution.

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3.The Mahanagar Cooperative Bank obtained recovery
certificates and then proceeded against the Panvel properties. It
learnt that the Court Receiver of this Court took possession of this
very land pursuant to an order of 25th April 2017 in the present
Execution Application.

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Page 2 of 4

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28th February 2018

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922-CHS975-17+.DOC

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4.I cannot proceed with the matter and discuss the question of
prioritization of the rival claims without the Mahanagar Cooperative
Bank Ltd first being joined as a party. The fact also remains that the
Mahanagar Cooperative Bank Ltd has got its charge registered over
these lands on 2nd June 2016 apparently in accordance with law,
though Ms Joshi disputes this, and I will leave the question open.
The Court Receiver was appointed at L&T Finance’s instance in
execution only a year later on 25th May 2017. If, therefore, L&T
Finance, which has no registered charge of its own, wishes to
dislodge the Mahanagar Cooperative Bank’s charge, it must file a
substantive application making out a case for that purpose. I will
leave all contentions open in that regard. But the one thing I cannot
do is to refuse to implead the Mahanagar Cooperative Bank and
thus, in a roundabout manner, render today, without any application
from L&T Finance, an order that would result in the lifting or
cancellation of that charge. After all this is a civil proceeding in
execution. It is not a Writ Petition.

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5.The present Chamber Summons is made absolute in terms of
prayer clauses (a), (b), (c) and (e).

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6.The Court Receiver is not to proceed in execution without
further orders of the Court.

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7.Liberty to the L&T Finance to file an appropriate proceeding
in regard to the charge registered by the Mahanagar Cooperative
Bank. Now that the Mahanagar Cooperative Bank is a party in

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Page 3 of 4

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28th February 2018

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922-CHS975-17+.DOC

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execution, that proceeding can, if permissible in law, be brought in
this Execution Application itself.

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8.Liberty to Ms Joshi to mention the matter after the
application is filed. All contentions are specifically kept open.

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9.It is clarified that I have not addressed myself to the merits of
the correctness of the Mahanagar Cooperative Bank’s charge and all
contentions in that behalf including as to the validity of the
Mahanagar Cooperative Bank’s claim and the Bank’s obtaining
charge on the land are left open.

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(G. S. PATEL, J)

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Page 4 of 4

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28th February 2018

L and T Finance Ltd. v. Gopalji Heavy Lifters and 5 Ors. and the Court Receiver and the Mahanagar Co-Op.Bank Ltd.(Applicant)

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

L and T Finance Ltd. v. Gopalji Heavy Lifters and 5 Ors. and the Court Receiver and the Mahanagar Co-Op.Bank Ltd.(Applicant)

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

What the court decided

A compact analysis

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