IndusInd Bank is planning to challenge the order of the debt recovery tribunal (DRT) which vacated an interim order attaching properties of Stock Holding Corporation of India Ltd (SHCIL).
IndusInd Bank senior vice-president (investment banking) V B Raju said the bank would appeal to the appellate authority of the tribunal challenging the recent order of the Kolkata bench. The order, while vacating its previous interim order, said the merits of the case did not warrant the protection it had sought through attachment as "the assets and properties of SHCIL appear to be sound and satisfactory."
"SHCIL's balance sheet was qualified by the statutory auditors. This shows that SHCIL's financial health is not very sound," Raju added.
The legal tussle between the bank and SHCIL began after the payment crisis brought down the Calcutta Stock Exchange to its knees.
Last year, SHCIL had given three post-dated cheques amounting over Rs 24 crore to Biyani who, in turn, discounted them to IndusInd Bank. SHCIL also undertook that the cheques would be cleared on presentation.
In the petition filed before DRT under Section 19 of the Debt Recovery Tribunal Act, IndusInd Bank alleged that the three cheques were dishonored on presentation and therefore prayed for recovery of the money from both the parties.
Then DRT came out with an interim order directing SHCIL to furnish security equivalent to the sum of Rs 24.4 crore claimed by IndusInd Bank failing which its properties would be attached.
IndusInd had sought recovery of the sum and obtained an ex-parte order from DRT preventing SHCIL or persons connected to it from transferring, disposing or encumbering its properties and investments in 17 instruments, including shares in National Stock Exchange (NSE) and Investors Services of India (ISI) in the beginning of January.
The order has attached SHCIL's 5-acre plot with unfinished building at Shilpata in Mumbai. In addition to SHCIL's shareholding in NSE and ISI, the tribunal has also attached investment of the corporation in bond funds of UTI and LIC and various government securities as well.
The order has also attached properties of Harish Chandra Biyani- one of three defaulters of the Calcutta Stock Exchange during the March payment crisis. Biyani's properties-namely, his one-seventh share in residence at Ballygunge Circular Road, a flat on Camac Street, a farm house in Bangalore and a 28.7 per cent stake in Biyani Securities. The DRT Kolkata bench vacated the order on February 13.
