J.B. PARDIWALA, J.

1. Since the legal issues raised in both the writ applications are more or less the same, those were heard together and are being disposed of by this common judgment.

2. The challenge in both the above captioned writ applications is to the legality and validity of a Master Circular dated 2nd July 2012 issued by the Reserve Bank of India in respect of 'willful defaulter' and the notices were issued by the respective banks, calling upon the petitioners to show-cause as to why they should not be declared as willful defaulters in terms of the Reserve Bank of India’s Master Circular.

Special Civil Application No.645 of 2014 :

3. The petitioner no.1 is a proprietary firm. The petitioner no.2 is a company registered under the Indian Companies Act, 1956, having its Registered Office within the State of Gujarat. The petitioner no.3 is the Director of the petitioner no.2 Company and the petitioner no.4 is the Guarantor and also a Director of the Petitioner no.2 Company.

4. The petitioners availed of a loan facility from the respondent no.2 Punjab National Bank. The respondent no.2 Bank noticed that the loan account of the petitioners was a Non-Performing Asset (N