In a major relief to housing finance company Indiabulls Housing Finance Ltd, the Supreme Court has stayed the proceedings in the three first information reports (FIR) lodged against it by defaulting borrowers.
According to Indiabulls Housing, the FIRs were lodged against the company by the defaulting borrowers in West Bengal, Ghaziabad and in Delhi.
The matter is next listed on May 16, 2023 in the apex court, Indiabulls Housing said.
The company said the SARFAESI Act under which the company sells the mortgaged assets provides protection to officers of the lending bank or non-banking finance company (NBFC) from prosecution.
In some instances, defaulting borrowers to evade repayment and stalling recovery proceedings file criminal cases against their lender to exert pressure.
Indiabulls Housing said one of the borrowers - Shipra Group was trying to resist the loan recovery and filed civil cases to stall the recovery process.
Multiple unsuccessful attempts were made by Shipra in various courts, which included two Securitisation Applications before Debt Recovery Tribunal in Lucknow, three writ petitions before the Allahabad High Court, petitions before High Court of Delhi, two Special Leave Petitions before the Supreme Court, all of which were dismissed, Indiabulls Housing said.
Frustrated at being unsuccessful in getting relief before various courts, Shipra Group without disclosing the above civil proceedings, filed a blatantly false complaint in Ghaziabad based on which an FIR was registered against the company officials, Indiabullls Housing said.
The home loan company said the loans granted to Shipra Group were against the fully paid Noida land owned by Kadam Developers and pledge of shares of Kadam.
The mortgage was created with the prior 'Permission to Mortgage' dated January 9, 2018 granted by the authority YEIDA, Indiabulls Housing said.
Consequent to defaults under the loans, the company exercised its rights for recovering the overdue amounts. The shares of Kadam Developers were done by invoking the pledge created by the borrowers.
Such sale of shares of Kadam Developers and its valuation has been upheld by the Delhi High Court in 2021, Indiabulls Housing said.
Indiabulls Housing approached the apex court against the police in Ghaziabad. As the issue was similar to the earlier one in West Bengal petition, the matters were heard together and the Supreme Court stayed the FIR proceedings, Indiabulls Housing said.
