Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Thursday refused to grant an urgent hearing to depositors and account holders of the now duped Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank. The HC has adjourned the hearing till October 22.
The petition filed by over 10 such depositors, all from Thane and an NGO, Consumer Action Network (CAN), challenging the ‘irrational and arbitrary’ cap to withdraw only Rs 10,000 once in six months, was mentioned by their advocate Eknath Dhokale.
The petition was mentioned before a bench of Chief Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice Bharati Dangre seeking an urgent hearing. The advocate made an attempt to show that there was an extreme urgency in the matter and thus requires to be heard.
However, the bench said ‘no urgency’ and allowed the matter to come in due course. The matter has accordingly been listed for hearing on October 22, 2019.
The petition states that the directions of the RBI on withdrawal limits are arbitrary, irrational and without application of mind as it is against the lakhs of depositors or account holders, who have deposited their hard earned money in the PMC bank.
“Considering the lakhs of members who require approval before the necessary payment in terms of medical treatment or any necessary and urgent requisite, imposing such restriction is arbitrary, irrational and contradictory to provision of law and public interest as it penalising the customers and cause great hardship, inconvenience to them,” the petition has highlighted.
It further states that the impositions are violating the fundamental rights to equality, liberty and privacy of all the customers.
