Petition filed in SC seeking contempt of Court proceedings against RBI Governor

New Delhi [India], January 4 : A petition has been filed before the Supreme Court seeking initiation of contempt of Court proceedings and punish the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor, Shaktikanta Das, and officials concerned of the State Bank of India (SBI) for allegedly and wilfully violating the court's earlier order of September 3, 2020 in connection with moratorium case.
The Apex Court had passed the order on September 3, last year on loan moratorium case, and said that those accounts that have not been declared Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) as on August 31, 2020, cannot be declared as such until further notice.
The petitioner, Ajay Kumar Barbruvan Makane, through his lawyer Vishal Tiwari and Advocate on Record (AOR) Abhigya Kushwah, sought a direction from the Apex Court that notice be issued against the contemnors -- RBI Governor and concerned SBI officials -- for wilfully violating the order/directions passed by the Supreme Court on September 3, last year.
The respondent bank has nowhere mentioned the date of classifying the account of the petitioner, Ajay Kumar Barbruvan Makane, as a non-performing asset (NPA) in the demand notice of September 1, 2020.
"No show cause notice was given, despite of the stay order passed by the Apex Court on September 3, last year," Tiwari in his petition claimed.
"Issue notice to the contemnors for wilfully violating the order/directions and punish the contemnors for having committed contempt of this Court," he further claimed in his petition.
The petitioner, Makane, sought a direction that the contemnors be asked to compensate the damage caused to the petitioner, by their contemptuous act.
Makane further sought a direction that one of the respondents, Chief Manager of the concerned SBI, be made to make status quo ante of the petitioner account.
The petitioner sought that a direction be made to the respondents to grant a grace period of 90 days to the petitioner further to pay the debts.
The respondents -- Chief Manager and Branch Manager of the SBI concerned bank -- had allegedly flouted the September 3, 2020 order of the Apex Court by turning and declaring the account of the petitioner as NPA by the demand notice of September 1, 2020.
"The respondents -- RBI Governor, Chief Executive of the Indian Bank Association (IBA), Chairman of the SBI -- were duty-bound to promulgate and ensure the compliance of the order of this court throughout the country but they deliberately did not," the petition claimed.
The contemptuous act of the respondents has not only disobeyed the court's order but has also caused severe irreparable damage and loss to the petitioner. The petitioner has lost his image and has been defamed as the possession notice was published in the new papers of his locality which made the dignity of the petitioner lower, the petition claimed.
The contemptuous act of the respondents has shaken the confidence of the public and has degraded the trust of the borrowers. In this pandemic, where all borrowers are passing through the worst scenario and financial stress, the respondents' act is very disgraceful and contemptuous, the petition further claimed.