The tribunal allowed the withdrawal of an Original Application after the bank applicant settled the claim and received payment from the respondent borrower, relying on the principle that the bank has dominus litis.
Permission granted to withdraw the Original Application; account treated as closed in settlement.
This page shows the compact analysis of this judgement. The full analysis — procedural history, issue-by-issue holdings with ratio and obiter, advocates, and paragraph-level evidence for every claim — is being added to the record in batches and will appear here when this judgement has been through it.
| 26/07/2023 | Ex. No. Before Presiding Officer Dr. Rekha G. Dhakar, DRT-1, Mumbai. Roznama in OA 13 of 2022 Punjab National Bank Vs M M Metals Mehta |
Next date |
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| Advocate Ms. Prajakta Angre i/b Anup Khaitan & Co. appeared for the Applicant. IA No. 2382/2023 1. The Ld. Counsel appearing for the Applicant Bank seeking permission to withdraw the Original Application as they have settled the matter out of court with the defendants and received an amount of Rs.4.95/- Crore (Rupees Four Crores Ninety Five Lacs Only) towards full and final settlement of entire OA claim of Rs. 9,01,00,397.90/-. 2. Considered the contentions of Ld. Counsel for the applicant and gone through the record as well as case laws on the subject. 3. The Hon’ble High Court of Delhi in the matter of Satish Chand Gupta & Ors. Vs. SBI-W.P © 2588/2010 held that “…..DRT can have no objection to the same as the |
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| bank which is claimant has agreed to the |
same. The bank is dominus litis and it is for the bank to decide as to against which party it desires the litigation to continue. It is purely a contractual matter and the bank in its wisdom decided to settle the claim against the petitioners…..”. It was further laid down that the Tribunal appears to think that it is some kind of Ombudsman/ Auditor of the bank to scrutinize the settlement arrived between the parties. The Tribunal is no one to decide as to at what value the bank should settle its dues with the borrower especially when the bank has Managers who have acted in pursuance to authorization in their favour and after due consideration of the proposal of the petitioners….”. 4. In the light of above, since the account impugned has already been closed in terms of settlement between the parties and Bank has already received the entire settlement amount, further the bank has dominus litis in their matter, therefore, IA No. 2382/2023 is allowed and Original is as Application hereby disposed
4.
withdrawn.
File be closed and consigned to record room. P.O.
DRT-I
Sgj/-17
2 issues framed by the court
Whether the subordinate court must object to an out-of-court settlement between a bank and its borrower.
Whether the bank possesses the dominus litis to withdraw an original application after settling the claim.
Colour shows how this judgement treated each authority
Satish Chand Gupta & Ors. Vs SBI-W.P © 2588/2010Explained¶2
Satish Chand Gupta & Ors. Vs SBI-W.P © 2588/2010
Punjab National Bank
M M Metals Mehta
Dr. Rekha G. Dhakar
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
Dr. Rekha G. Dhakar
Parties & counsel
