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IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM
C.S.DIAS, J
Febin Francis, S/O Francis Paul – Appellant
Versus
Union Of India – Respondent
Key Points: - The court directs freezing to be confined to the amount specified by police authorities, enabling transactions beyond that limit (!) . - Police authorities must inform the bank whether freezing will continue and, if so, for what period; banks must act on this information (!) (!) . - If no information is received within the specified time, the bank may lift the debit freeze and the petitioner may approach the court again (!) (!) . - The bank and petitioner must serve a copy of the judgment to the concerned police officer and retain proof of service to enable compliance (!) . - The police must inform whether seizure has been reported to the jurisdictional Magistrate and within what time; failure to inform within two months can lead to lifting of the freeze by the bank (!) . - The judgment reiterates that indefinite delays in reporting by police are unjust and emphasizes timely communication to banks regarding seizures (!) .
JUDGMENT :
The writ petition is filed to direct the 6th respondent bank to lift the freezing of the petitioner’s bank account bearing No.917010051403733.
2. The petitioner is the holder of the above bank account with the 6th respondent bank. The petitioner contends that the 6th respondent has frozen the petitioner’s bank account pursuant to the requisitions received from the respondents 4 and 5. The action of the 6th respondent is illegal and arbitrary. Hence, this writ petition.
3. Heard; the learned counsel appearing for the petitioner and the learned counsel for the 6th respondent bank.
4. The learned counsel for the 6th respondent bank submitted that the disputed amount is Rs.3,58,290/-. The said submission is recorded.
5. In considering an identical matter, this Court in Dr.Sajeer v. Reserve Bank of India [2024 (1) KLT 826] held as follows:
“ a. The respondent Banks arrayed in these cases, are directed to confine the order of freeze against the accounts of the respective petitioners, only to the extent of the amounts mentioned in the order/requisition issued to them by the Police Authorities. This shall be done forthwith, so as to enable the petitioners to deal with their accounts
The court established that bank account freezes must be limited to specified amounts and require timely police reporting to ensure fairness to account holders.
The court mandates that bank account freezes must be limited to specified amounts and timely police reporting is essential to maintain validity.
The court established that banks must limit account freezes to specified amounts and act promptly on police communications regarding seizures, ensuring timely reporting to the Magistrate.
The court established that banks must limit account freezes to amounts specified by police requisitions and cannot indefinitely freeze accounts without timely reporting to the magistrate.
The court ruled that bank account freezes must be limited to specified amounts and require timely police reporting to ensure account holders are not unduly restricted.
Indefinite freezing of bank accounts without timely police reporting is unjust; banks must act based on police communication regarding the necessity of the freeze.
Debits on bank accounts can only be frozen for specific amounts mentioned in requisitions, with obligations on police to report compliance effectively.
The court established that bank accounts can only be frozen to the extent of amounts specified by police requisitions, and failure to report seizure to the magistrate invalidates the freeze.
The court established that account freezing must be proportionate to police requisitions and require timely reporting to the jurisdictional Magistrate.
The judgment establishes limits on bank account freezing upon police requisition, ensuring due process under the BNSS and safeguarding the petitioner's rights.
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