New Delhi: The Supreme Court today declined to interfere in a public interest litigation seeking relief for Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative Bank's customers, saying it will not hear the plea while the issue is already pending in other high courts.
Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi told petitioner Bejon Kumar Misra that he can move any other court seeking personal relief.
Misra claimed he had filed the plea on behalf of 500 depositors of the scam-hit bank. He also stressed that as multiple high courts are hearing pleas by customers of the bank, it will be proper for the apex court to hear it.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said government agencies share the concerns of the depositors. Mehta also submitted before the court that "substantial properties" of those accused in the scam was being attached.
Monday, the Enforcement Directorate said it had seized and identified assets worth 38.3 bln rupees belonging to Housing Development & Infrastructure Ltd, its directors, and promoters and officials of Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative Bank.
On Sep 23, the Reserve Bank of India had issued directives to the co-operative bank and suspended its board and managing director Joy Thomas after noticing major financial irregularities, failure of internal control, and under-reporting of various exposure. Thomas admitted the bank set up dummy accounts to avoid reputational risk if its large exposure to Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd was made public.
The size of the alleged fraud at the co-operative bank has been pegged at least 43.55 bln rupees. The bank's exposure to HDIL Group is around 65 bln rupees, approximately 73% of its total loan book.
