IN THE HIGH COURT OF MADHYA PRADESH AT JABALPUR BEFORE HON'BLE SHRI JUSTICE ATUL SREEDHARAN &

HON'BLE SHRI JUSTICE DEEPAK KHOT nd ON THE 22 OF JULY, 2025 WRIT PETITION No. 28345 of 2025 SHRI ASTHA FOUNDATION FOR EDUCATION SOCIETY AND OTHERS Versus HDFC BANK LIMITED AND OTHERS Appearance:

Shri Siddharth Radhe Lal Gupta - Advocate and Shri Deependra Mishra - Advocate and Shri Vikas Jain - Advocate for petitioners.

Shri Shashank Verma - Senior Advocate with Shri Mallikarjun Khare -

Advocate and Shri Akhilesh Rai - Advocate for respondents No.1.

Shri Aditya Narayan Sharma - Advocate for respondent No.3 and 4.

Shri Siddharth Gulatee - Senior Advocate with Mrs. Tulika Gulatee -

Advocate for respondent No.5.

WRIT PETITION No. 12094 of 2025 H K KALCHURI EDUCATION TRUST ACTING Versus HDFC BANK LIMITED AND OTHERS Appearance:

Shri Siddharth Gulatee - Senior Advocate with Mrs. Tulika Gulatee - Advocate and Shri Ankit Kumar Pandey - Advocate for the petitioner. Shri Shashank Verma - Senior Advocate with Shri Mallikarjun Khare -

Signature Not Verified Advocate with Shri Akhilesh Rai - Advocate for respondents No.1 to 4.

Shri Aditya Narayan Sharma - Advocate for the respondent No.5.

Shri Siddharth Radhe Lal Gupta - Advocate and Shri Deependra Mishra - Advocate for the respondent No.6.

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ORDER Per: Justice Atul Sreedharan The two petitions which are being decided by this common order. One is W.P. No.28345 of 2025 (Shri Astha Foundation for Education Society and another Vs. HDFC Bank Limited and others) and other is H.K. Kalchuri Education Trust Vs. HDFC Bank Limited and others. As both these petitions and the parties are interconnected and the cause of action is also similar, they are being decided by a common order.

2. For the purpose of convenience, W.P. No.12094 of 2025 is being treated as a main case. The crux of the grievance of the petitioners in the lead case is the liquidation of Fixed Deposits given by it as a guarantor to the respondents/Bank amounting to about Rs.48/- crores.

3. Even before the commencement of arguments by learned Senior counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioners, the learned Senior counsel for the respondents/Bank has taken a preliminary objection with regard to the maintainability/ entertainability of this petition under Article 226. Learned Senior counsel appearing for the respondent has stated that there exists an alternate remedy in the form of complaints before the Banking Ombudsman, a civil suit for recovery or a complaint before the Consumer Forum. The next Signature Not Verified argument was that the Bank is not amenable to the writ jurisdiction in a matter relating to the liquidation of the FDs given by the petitioners as a Guarantors.

4. Learned Senior counsel for the respondents has referred two judgments of the Supreme Court which are Federal Bank Limited Vs. Sagar Thomas and others (2003) 10 SCC 733 and S. Shobha Vs. Muthoot Finance Limited 2025 SCC Online SC 177. This Court proposes to refer to the said judgments and their relevance to the arguments put forth by the learned counsel for the respondents in the latter part of this judgment.

5. Learned Senior counsel appearing for the petitioners in this case has drawn the attention of this Court to the list of dates and events filed by him which, according to the learned counsel for the petitioner is extremely relevant in this case as it lays down the foundation of a meandering cause of action commencing from the year 2024. He has further submitted that on 23.04.2024, in W.P. No.27769/2023, this Court vide order dated 23.04.2024 directed elections based on 2016 Membership List. In order to give clarity to this fact, it is necessary to state here that the petition aforementioned was filed by the then office bearers of one Shri Astha Foundation for Education Society, whose ma