Telangana High Court Issues Notice To RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das In Contempt Case Related To AP Mahesh Bank

The Telangana High Court has issued a notice to the RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das in a contempt case filed by the A.P. Mahesh Cooperative Urban Bank Shareholders Welfare Association for alleged non-compliance of the direction to appoint an officer to run the administration and day-to-day affairs of A.P. Mahesh Cooperative Bank.

Justice CV Bhaskar Reddy issued the notice and listed the matter for hearing on July 07.

The Contempt Petition has been filed through advocate Rajesh Kumar Herur against the RBI Governor for not following the order passed by high court in April, 2023. The plea said the RBI has not appointed an officer of its choice till date nor approached the Court for any extension of time or variation of order.

“Thus, the only possible inference in law is that the Respondent has wantonly and flagrantly, with motive to defeat or defy the order, disobeyed the same by inaction, which is ipso facto reflective of the attitude to undermine the authority of this Hon'ble Court, its dignity and the administration of justice,” it added.

In 2021, a petition challenging the election procedure of the Bank was filed, seeking directions to the Returning Officer to exclude from consideration all the votes cast by the 1800 gold loanees whose names are included in the voters' list. A prayer also was made to recount the votes and declare the results afresh.

The court passed an interim order directing the newly elected members/directors not to make any policy decisions in the day-to-day administration or business of the Bank in any manner.

Thereafter, while seeking modification of the order, the counsel appearing for the Bank had submitted that in view of the interim directions issued by the Court, the entire bank business has been halted and it is causing a lot of inconvenience not only to the shareholders but also to the account holders and the persons who are approaching the Bank for loan facilities.

Considering the contentions, the court on April 24 issued an order stating that, “…only to protect the interest of the shareholders and to allow the Bank to run its business on day to day basis, is directing the Reserve Bank of lndia to appoint an Officer of its choice to run the administration and day to day affairs of the Bank including taking any policy decisions in the interest of shareholders with the assistance of the Senior employee of the Bank pending passing of the final orders in the writ petition, the interim arrangement now made is however subject to the final outcome of the result of the writ petition.”

Case Title: A.P Mahesh Cooperative Urban Bank Shareholder Welfare Association v. Shaktikanta Das

Counsel for petitioner: Advocates Rajesh Kumar Herur and Dil Jit Singh Ahluwalia.