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Madras High CourtWP/7254/2013disposed of

Veera Ice Plant v. The Tamilnadu Industrial

2021-11-22Honourable Mr Justice R. Suresh Kumar4 pages

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS

DATED : 22.11.2021

CORAM

THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE R.SURESH KUMAR W.P. No.7254 of 2013 and M.P.Nos.1 and 2 of 2013 Veera Ice Plant Rep. by its Proprietor V.Krishnamoorthy S/o.Veerasamy Chinnamedu, Kalamanallur Post Tharangambadi Taluk, Nagapattinam District.

... Petitioner Vs 1.The Tamil Nadu Industrial Investment Corporation Ltd., Rep. by the Managing Director, 692, Anna Salai, Nandanam, Chennai - 600 035.

2.The Tamil Nadu Industrial Investment Corporation Limited, Rep. by the Branch Manager, 33, South Main Street, Thanjavur - 9.

... Respondents PRAYER : Petition filed Under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying for issuance of a Writ of Certiorarified Mandamus calling for the records concerning the tender cum public auction issued by the second respondent in respect of the Primary Assets (Land, Building & Machinery) and Collateral Assets (Land) of the petitioner on March 2013 to quash the same and directing the 2nd Respondent to permit the petitioner to run the business of the petitioner Veera Ice Plant at Chinnakudi Road, Akkur Pandaravadi, Tharangambadi Taluk and dispose off the OTS proposal of the petitioner in accordance with law and without any discrimination.

For Petitioner : Mr.T.D.K.Govindarajan For Respondents : Mr.I.Sathish Standing counsel for TIIC

ORDER

The prayer sought for herein is for a writ of certiorarified mandamus calling for the records concerning the tender cum public auction issued by the second respondent in respect of the Primary Assets (Land, Building & Machinery) and Collateral Assets (Land) of the petitioner on March 2013 to quash the same and directing the 2nd Respondent to permit the petitioner to run the business of the petitioner Veera Ice Plant at Chinnakudi Road, Akkur Pandaravadi, Tharangambadi Taluk and dispose off the OTS proposal of the petitioner in accordance with law and without any discrimination.

2. The petitioner availed an industrial loan from the respondent Tamil Nadu Industrial Investment Corporation i.e. TIIC. Since there has been an overdue in repaying the said loan to the respondents, the respondents by invoking Section 29 of the State Financial Corporation Act issued a notification to bring the property which has been given as collateral to the respondents for public auction sometime in March 2013. Challenging the said auction notice, the present writ petition had been filed.

3. During the pendency of the writ petition, the petitioner since obtained an order of stay against the impugned order, auction was not conducted as proposed. At this juncture, it is the claim of the petitioner that, insofar as the persons who obtained the loan upto Rs.10 Lakhs, the respondent TIIC has announced a One Time Settlement Scheme, under which, entire penal interest and considerable percentage of interest have been waived thereby made easy to make the payment. To wipe out the loan, such One Time Settlement (in short 'OTS') has been brought in by the respondent TIIC. However, by citing the reasons that, the petitioner obtained the loan of little ahead of Rs.10 Lakhs that gesture has not been shown to the petitioner.

However, the petitioner is ready and willing to settle the entire due at one stroke by availing the benefit of OTS and in this regard, the petitioner has already made an application on 12.07.2021. Therefore, at this juncture, instead of pursuing the auction notice which is impugned herein of the year 2013, if the respondent TIIC comes forward to pursue the application of the petitioner for One Time Settlement and decide the same, as has been decided in respect of other cases, which are similarly placed, the petitioner would be satisfied as he would wipe out the entire loan in one stroke.

4. On the other hand, Mr.I.Sathish, learned Standing Counsel appearing for the respondent TIIC, on instruction, would submit that, earlier there was no such OTS available for the person

like the petitioner who availed the loan for more than Rs.10 Lakhs and now the TIIC has come forward to extend the benefit of OTS even to those who availed the loan like the petitioner and therefore, in this regard, if at all the petitioner has come forward to settle the loan by availing the benefit of OTS and for the said purpose, if he has already made the application/representation dated 12.07.2021, certainly, that would be considered by the respondent TIIC and accordingly a decision would be taken within a time frame that may be stipulated by this Court.

5. I have considered the said rival submissions made by the learned counsel appearing for the parties and have perused the materials placed before this Court.

6. Though the impugned notice for public auction was issued in the year 2013, by virtue of the pendency of this writ petition, for all these years where there has been an order of stay, the said auction notice has not been acted upon. Moreover, at this juncture, since the said decision has been taken by the TIIC to extend the benefit of OTS to the persons like the petitioner who availed the loan of more than Rs.10 Lakhs also in principal and in this regard, the petitioner also is ready and willing to avail the benefit of One Time Settlement and in this regard, he has already made application on 12.07.2021 to the respondents, which the respondents also are ready and willing to consider on merits and in accordance with law, this Court feels that, the import of the impugned order need not be gone into, at this juncture, therefore, the present development under which the issue can be settled through OTS by mutual agreement by both parties can be explored.

7. In that view of the matter, this Court is inclined to dispose of this writ petition with the following order: (i) That there shall be a direction to the respondents to consider the application / representation of the petitioner dated 12.07.2021 to avail the One Time Settlement facility extended by the respondent to the similarly placed persons and accordingly decide the same on merits and in accordance with law and also on the basis of the concession being given to the similarly placed persons. The said decision can be made by the respondents within six weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order and once a decision is taken, the same can be communicated to the petitioner. On receipt of the same, the petitioner shall come forward to settle the dues at one stretch or as per the

directions issued in this regard by the respondent TIIC within a time frame to be stipulated in this regard by the TIIC.

(ii) Since the copy of the said application and representation dated 12.07.2021 has not been filed before this Court and it is submitted only by the learned counsel appearing for the petitioner that, such an application has already been made to the respondents, a copy of the said representation/ application dated 12.07.2021 shall also be annexed along with this order for the immediate perusal and further action on the part of the respondents as indicated above.

8. With these directions, this Writ Petition is disposed of. No costs. Consequently, connected miscellaneous petitions are closed.

Sd/- Assistant Registrar(CCC) //True Copy// Sub Assistant Registrar Sgl To 1.The Managing Director, The Tamil Nadu Industrial Investment Corporation Ltd., 692, Anna Salai, Nandanam, Chennai - 600 035.

2.The Branch Manager, The Tamil Nadu Industrial Investment Corporation Limited, 33, South Main Street, Thanjavur - 9.

+1cc to M/s.T.D.K.Govindarajan, Advocate Sr.60347 W.P.No.7254 of 2013 ksm[co] srg 03/02/2022