Single judge High Court quashed recovery citation for agricultural loan due to natural calamity. Directed petitioner to pay in quarterly installments and release seized tractor upon first payment. Stay application disposed of.
Recovery citation quashed; loan repayable in quarterly installments; tractor released after first installment.
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.
WPMS No.1084 of 2013 Hon’ble V.K. Bist, J.
Mr. Harsh Pal Sekhon, Advocate for the petitioner.
Mr. R.C. Arya, Standing Counsel for the State.
Mr. Ashish Joshi, Advocate for the respondent no.4.
Mr. V.B.S. Negi, learned Assistant Solicitor General with Mr. Vikas Pandey, Standing Counsel for Union of India. Heard learned counsel for the parties.
Present petition has been filed by the petitioner for quashing the impugned recovery citation dated 02.05.2012. Further prayer has been made for a direction to the respondents to release the Tractor in favour of the petitioner and to permit the petitioner to repay his loan amount in easy installments.
Petitioner took loan for the purchase of Tractor from the respondent Bank in the year 2008. Due to loss in agriculture, he could not deposit the loan amount in time. On 02.05.2012, impugned recovery citation has been issued by the respondent no.3, by which the petitioner has been asked to pay a total sum of 5,29,766/- + others.
During the course of argument, learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that now, petitioner is ready to make payment of balance loan amount, including interest and recovery charges in easy installments, as he is not in a position to deposit the said amount at one time. He also submitted that the State of
Uttarakhand has just declared that, as natural calamity has recently been suffered by the residents of the State of Uttarakhand, no recovery of agricultural loan shall be made for a period of two years.
Mr. Ashish Joshi, Advocate for the respondent no.4 submitted that prayer of the petitioner can be accepted, if petitioner undertakes that he will pay balance loan amount with interest and recovery charges in quarterly installments. He also requested that provision may be made for vacation of order in case default is made by the petitioner.
Considering the submission of the learned counsel for the parties and considering the fact that natural calamity has recently been suffered by the residents of the State of Uttarakhand, the recovery citation dated 02.05.2012 is quashed and the writ petition is disposed of in the following terms:
(i) Balance loan amount with upto date interest and recovery charges shall be paid in quarterly installments. First installment of ` 60,000/shall be paid by the petitioner on or before 16.09.2013 and remaining installments shall be paid by him on or before 15th of end of every quarter. In the last installment, the amount of interest and the amount of recovery charges shall also be paid.
Stay application also stands disposed of.
Arpan
3 issues framed by the court
Whether to quash recovery citation issued for agricultural loan default due to natural calamity.
Whether petitioner can repay balance loan amount in installments instead of lump sum.
Whether seizure of tractor should be released pending installment payment.
1 provisions across 1 enactments
Petitioner
Union of India
Respondent Bank
State of Uttarakhand
Respondent no.4
V.K. Bist
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
