Court No. - 3

Case :- WRIT - C No. - 11224 of 2022

Petitioner :- Sarabjeet Singh

Respondent :- Lic Housing Finance Limited And Another

Counsel for Petitioner :- Ramesh Chandra Agrahari

Counsel for Respondent :- Pranjal Mehrotra

Hon'ble Surya Prakash Kesarwani,J.

Hon'ble Jayant Banerji,J.

Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and Shri Ashish Kumar

Gupta holding brief of Shri Pranjal Mehrotra, learned counsel

for the respondents.

A housing loan of Rs. 15 Lacs was sanctioned by the

respondents to the petitioner on 13.11.2019. Consequently, the

petitioner defaulted in payment of installments. According to

the petitioner due to unprecedented situation created on account

of pandemic Covid-19, he could not deposit the installments in

time. Consequently, the account of the petitioner was declared

as NPA on 16.3.2021. The respondents started taking action

under the provisions of SARFAESI Act by issuing a notice

dated 18.12.2021 under Section 13(2) of the SARFAESI Act.

The petitioner wants to pay the defaulted amount but the

respondents are not accepting it.

We find that the Reserve Bank of India has issued a Master

Circular dated 1.10.2021 "Prudential norms on Income

Recognition, Asset Classification and Provisioning pertaining to

Advances" and para 4.2.5 of the aforesaid Master Circular

provides as under:

"4.2.5 Upgradation of loan accounts classified as NPAs

If arrears of interest and principal are paid by the borrower in the case of

loan accounts classified as NPAs, the account should no longer be treated

as nonperforming and may be classified as 'standard' accounts With regard

to upgradation of accounts classified as NPA due to restructuring, non-

achievement of DCCO, etc., the instructions as specified for such cases

shall be applicable."

Learned counsel for the respondents submits that the petitioner

may make a representation before the respondent no. 2 along

with an account payee bank draft of the entire defaulted

installments, within three weeks and in the event such a

representation along with bank draft of the defaulted amount is

submitted before the respondent no. 2 then the case of the

petitioner may be considered in the light of the para 4.2.5 of the

aforesaid Master Circular of the Reserve Bank of India.

In view of the aforesaid, the writ petition is disposed of in

terms of the statement of the learned counsel for the

respondents as aforestated.

Order Date :- 7.7.2022

A. V. Singh

Digitally signed by AJAY VIKRAM

SINGH

Date: 2022.07.11 15:23:15 IST

Reason:

Location: High Court of Judicature at

Allahabad