Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Friday imposed a cost of Rs5 lakh on a petitioner for filing multiple litigations seeking similar relief and wasting judicial resources. The bench observed that the petitioner, Manisha Mehta, promoter and guarantor of M/s Perfect Infraengineers Ltd., had filed multiple petitions challenging the order passed on July 15 by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT-1), Mumbai, before different benches of the high court.
The court also took adverse note of the petitioner consuming three hours of the court’s time citing “grave urgency”, when it has over 150-200 matters listed for hearing on a daily basis. The bench imposed Rs2.5 lakh in costs for wasting judicial time and another Rs25 lakh for her conduct in filing repetitive pleas.
The total amount is to be deposited within 30 days and allocated as Rsl lakh each to Children Aid Society, In Defense of Animals, Girija Welfare Association, KEM Hospital, Poor Box Charity Fund, and the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa.
Mehtas petition had sought recognition of her company as a Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise (MSME) under the MSMED Act of 2006, challenging ICICI Bank’s classification of her loan account as a non-performing asset in July 2020. She alleged that the bank retrospectively declared her account as NPA to deny her the benefits of the Covid moratorium.
The petitioner claimed to have repaid 55% of her loan dues by selling company assets but was denied relaxation by ICICI Bank. Her plea alleged that the ICICI Bank allegedly diverted funds from a loan sanctioned by the Technology Development Board to its account, causing financial losses to her company. The petitioner argued that ICICI failed to follow RBI guidelines for MSMEs, including stress resolution mechanisms.
