Bombay HC quashes Bank of India's 'fraud' tag on Pune Buildtech, orders removal from wilful defaulters list
Bombay High Court has declared ank of India’s decision to declare Pune Buildtech Pvt Ltd ‘fraud’ as null and void and also the inclusion of the realty firm’s name in any such list/communication blacklisting the company from availing of institutionalised credit as null and void.
In another separate order, the court has also directed the lender to remove the company’s name from the list of ‘wilful defaulters’ and has also directed the bank to recall any information sent by it to any Credit Information Company declaring Pune Buildtech as wilful defaulters.
“It is not in dispute that the entire settlement amount as mentioned in the Consent Terms (Rs 703.35 Crores) has been paid by the petitioners to Bank of India sometime in June 2024,” observed the division bench of Justice BP Colabawalla and Justice Somasekhar Sundaresan in its order of October 8. “Despite this, and after receiving the entire amount, we fail to understand how Bank of India could continue with the proceedings initiated for declaring the Petitioners as wilful defaulters after issuing a ‘No Dues Certificate’ to the petitioners (Pune Buildtech).”
Before the court’s order, Senior Advocate Cyrus Ardeshir along with Munaf Virjee of AMR Law appearing for the Pune Buildtech argued that no intimation of any sort had been given to the petitioner and they were informed only verbally that their account had been notified as a ‘fraud’ account.
In the case regarding declaring the company a ‘wilful defaulter’, the developer argued that a show cause notice of May
