JUDGMENT :

S.M. SUBRAMANIAM, J.

Prayer: Civil Miscellaneous Appeal is filed under Section 11 of the Tamil Nadu Protection of Interests of Depositors (In Financial Establishments) Act, 1997 against the fair and decretal order made in O.A. No. 30 of 2013 dated 21.07.2017 on the file of the Court of the Special Judge, Special Court under TNPID Act Cases, Coimbatore.

1. The fair and decretal order dated 21.07.2017 passed by the learned Special Judge, Special Court under TNPID Act Cases, Coimbatore in O.S. No. 30 of 2013, is under challenge in the present Civil Miscellaneous Appeal.

2. Learned counsel for the appellant made a submission that the appellant is the innocent purchaser of the property and he is no way connected with the finance company nor accused in the criminal case. Therefore, purchase of property by the appellant is to be protected. When the appellant is the bona fide innocent purchaser, the sale cannot be interfered with as he is unconnected with the affairs of the Financial Company.

3. Learned counsel for the appellant reiterated that the Special Court has committed an error in granting permission for attachment without considering the fact that the appellant is a third party purchaser and the property was purchased without knowing the fact about the criminal case and the collection of deposit amount from the depositors.

4. The Special Court failed to appreciate the fact that the guideline value cannot be taken into account and render a finding with regard to the transactions inter se parties and the same is to be decided only on the basis of the market value of the supporting material. The appellant questioned the findings of the Trial Court with regard to the undervaluation of the instrument presented by the appellant before the Sub Registrar.

5. At the outset, it is contended that the findings in an entirety made in this regard by the Special Court is perverse and not in consonance with the principles of law.

6. Learned Additional Government Pleader, appearing on behalf of the respondent, disputed the said contentions by stating that the appellant is not a bona fide third party purchaser and the property was sold by presenting a document, which was undervalued and the same itself was executed with a mala-fide intention to defeat the interest of the depositors and thus the Special Court has rightly granted permission under Section 8 of The Tamil Nadu Protection of Interests of Depositors (In Financial Establishments) Act, 1997 (hereinafter referred to as ‘TNPID Act’ in short) to the Competent Authority to attach the property and further proceed with the sale.

7. It is contended that 1,164 innocent depositors deposited their hard earned money in the Financial Company to the tune of Rs. 16,20,36,625/-. Criminal cases were registered in Crime Nos. 7 and 18 of 2012 and the subject sale transactions were done in the same year when the crime was registered.

8. It is further contended that just before the registration of crime, the alleged sale was executed in faovur of the appellant by the accused persons in the criminal case, who were running a Finance Company. Thus, the sale was done in a calculated manner with an intention to defeat the interest of the depositors and thus, the Competent Authority filed the application under Section 8 of the TNPID Act, seeking for attachment of the property.

9. In view of the fact that the Special Court, in clear terms, held that the sale was executed in order to defeat the interest of the depositors and not in good faith, there is no reason to interfere with the findings of the Special Court and the Civil Miscellaneous Appeal is to be dismissed.

10. Section 3 (ii) of the TNPID Act, enumerates that “where the Government have reason to believe that any financial establishment is acting in a calculated manner with an intention to defraud the depositors, then the Government is empowered to attach the property.”

11. In the present case, the Government has not issued any order attaching the property