The public sector bank had approached the NCLT, claiming that it had lost papers relating to the account of a borrower, Tibros India Tours, and could not trace them at the branch concerned, resulting in filing of a claim against the borrower. There is a delay of 35 days in doing so. He became a criminal.
“Being a public financial institution carrying on banking business the appellant (
) is expected to be more diligent and will take all possible care especially to protect the interests of the banks as well as the interests of the customers”, the NCLT said.
SBI has an outstanding of Rs. 10 crore by Delhi-based event management company Tibros, against whom recovery proceedings are going on in NCLT. As per the rules, all creditors are required to file their claims within a stipulated time frame once such legal proceedings are initiated.
A two-judge NCLT bench of Justice PSN Prasad and Justice Rahul Bhatnagar reprimanded the bank and imposed a fine of Rs. 10,000 on him for the delay, though he asked the company’s liquidator to consider his claim.
The NCLT said, “An institution like SBI should be more vigilant and should act with due diligence, hence the petition for cost waiver is dismissed.”
SBI said the delay was neither intentional nor willful.