Delhi HC adjourns to Jan 4 application to allow withdrawal from PMC Bank for emergencies

New Delhi [India], December 1 (ANI): The Delhi High Court on Tuesday adjourned to January 4 an application seeking directions to include all financial emergencies arising out of the necessity from education, marriage and other genuine financial needs as grounds for depositors to withdraw their money from troubled Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank.

A division bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Prateek Jalan adjourned the matter as the Counsel for the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) sought more time to file a reply.

The court was hearing an interim application seeking directions to include all financial emergencies arising out of the necessity as grounds for withdrawal stating that people are heavily dependent upon their deposited money in the light COVID-19 battered economy.

The application sought directions to provide adequate money in all types of emergencies and for steps to build confidence measures in common depositors to prevent the unfortunate death of depositors on account of not able to get their money in a time of distress.

The interim application was moved on a pending petition, which was earlier filed by Bejon Kumar Misra, challenging the withdrawal limit in the bank.

The application, filed through advocate Shashank Deo Sudhi, sought directions to the PMC Bank, RBI, and others to set up a court-monitored special investigation team for transparent probe in a time-bound manner.

It claimed that the investigation is being dragged, which is resulting in a situation of complete helplessness and uncertainty towards the hard-earned money of innocent depositors.

Claiming that more than 60 people have lost their lives under the stressful financial circumstances in the PMC matter, the application also sought directions to appropriately compensate the families of deceased depositors who have lost their lives under the stressful financial situation including directions of releasing the total deposited amount to those families immediately without any further delay.

Earlier, the Delhi High Court had directed the RBI, PMC Bank and others to consider the needs of the depositors during the coronavirus-induced lockdown.

"The innocent depositors are reeling under severe financial crisis, which can be reflective from the affidavit filed by the respondents where only 13 depositors were found eligible for withdrawal of more than Rs 1 lakh and the remaining application for additional withdrawal of money from the moratorium limit was rejected," the application said.

In September last year, the RBI had capped the withdrawal limit and restricted the activities of the PMC Bank after an alleged fraud of Rs 4,355 crore came to light. The Enforcement Directorate had later seized and identified movable and immovable assets worth more than Rs 3,830 crore owned by HDIL in connection with the case. (ANI)