Delhi High Court Rejects PIL To Constitute High Powered Committee To Look Into Complete Affairs Of All Cooperative Banks

The Delhi High Court has recently rejected a PIL seeking constitution of a High Powered Committee for looking into the complete affairs of all the co-operative banks.

A division bench comprising of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora said that such a prayer falls in the domain of policy making by the Executive and Legislature.

The court said that it was not inlined to issue any directions in a plea moved by one Bejon Kumar Misra which sought a direction on the Union Government and Reserve Bank of India to ensure complete insurance of the money deposited in various co-operative banks, including the nationalized banks by enacting a policy for the same.

The plea further sought issuance of an exhaustive and comprehensive guidelines to ensure safe keeping of deposits in case of emergency financial crisis.

The PIL also sought interim protective measures for the consumers whose money deposited in the Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative Bank Limited, Mumbai (PMC Bank) were blocked.

The court took note that the RBI had placed on record its Gazette notification of 2022 with respect to the scheme of amalgamation of PMC Bank with Unity Bank, after its sanction by the Central Government.

“The said scheme has been prepared by RBI as per its statutory mandate under Section 45 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 to protect the interest of depositors of PMC Bank. The Petitioner has not disputed the contents of the said affidavit. Therefore, the present petition seeking reliefs for the depositors of the PMC Bank does not survive for consideration,” the court said.

Regarding the prayers for providing 100% insurance cover for deposit holders, the court noted that at the time of filing of the PIL (in 2019), the insurance cover was Rs. 1 lakh per account which has been enhanced to Rs. 5 lakhs per bank account with effect from February 04, 2020, with the approval of Government of India.

“No further directions as prayed for can be issued in the present petition as we are of the considered opinion that the issue of the costs of bearing the premium said insurance,” the court said.

Title: BEJON KUMAR MISRA v. UNION OF INDIA & ORS.

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Del) 388

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