9911796707
TMI Blog2004 (10) TMI 636X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... loan was taken by one Khem Chand in his sole proprietary business of M/s. Verma Agro Industries. In 1991 the respondent bank filed a suit against M/s. Verma Agro Industries, Khem Chand and the appellant's husband Mam Chand. In the suit it was alleged that M/s. Verma Agro Industries and Khem Chand had executed, various agreements with regard to the loan and credit facilities made available by the Bank to them. It was also pleaded in the suit that Khem Chand and Mam Chand had secured the amount of the loan by creating a mortgage in respect of Immovable property consisting of agricultural land. According to the plaint a total sum of ₹ 2,57,625/- inclusive of interest was payable by M/s. Verma Agro Industries and Khem Chand to the respondent Bank. It was further pleaded that Mam Chand and one Nanak Chand had executed guarantee agreements on 24th June, 1988. The Bank prayed for a decree for ₹ 2,57,625/- together with the additional interest and for enforcement of the claim against the hypothecated and the mortgaged properties with a further prayer that if the aforesaid securities were found insufficient for realization of the amount payable under the decree, it be given ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... suit or to any other proceedings initiated by Bank. The Revisional Court found as a fact that the fixed deposit receipt did not bear the thumb impression of the appellant and the only thumb impressions appearing thereon were that of Mam Chand. It was also held that since the FDR was not mortgaged as guarantee for the loan taken by Verma Agro Industries or Khem Chand, the dispute regarding the FDR was not in issue in the suit filed by the Bank. It was therefore held that the Trial Court should not have passed any order regarding the right of the Bank to adjust the amount of the fixed deposit towards the recovery of the loan alleged to have been taken by M/s. Verma Agro Industries and Khem Chand. Despite having come to the conclusion that the Trial Court's order was without jurisdiction, totally irrelevant and unwarranted , the Revisional Court did not interfere with the order of the Trial Court on the basis of the UP Amendment to Section 115 of the Civil Procedure Code. 7. The appellant then filed a complaint before the District Forum under the Consumer Protection Act. It was contended by the respondent Bank before the District Forum that both the Trial Court as well as the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... lity of the defendants in the suit was yet to be quantified. It is further submitted that the Bank had in any event no claim against the appellant and could not have acted on the basis of any pledge alleged to have been created by the husband of the appellant of the fixed deposit receipt without the knowledge, concurrence or consent of the appellant. The decision of the Division Bench of the Lahore High Court in Simla Banking and Industrial Company Ltd. Ambala City v. Mt. Bhagwan Kaur AIR 1928 Lahore 316 and a passage from Tannan's Banking Law and Practices in India have been cited as authorities in support of this submission. 10. The respondent has submitted that since the account was admittedly an either or survivor one, it was open to Mam Chand to pledge the account with the Bank and the consent of the appellant was unnecessary. It is submitted that the appellant had come with an inconsistent case with regard to the loss of the original fixed deposit receipt. It is further submitted that Mam Chand had created the pledge by executing a discharge on the fixed deposit receipt on the same date that the fixed deposit was pledged by Mam Chand with the Bank. Although it is adm ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... account with any third party including the Bank itself in its capacity of creditor, so that the amount becomes payable to such third party, without the consent of the joint account holder. Thus in Tannan's Banking Law and Practice in India (20th Edn.) 2001 volume 1, Chapter VIII page 259) the legal position has been summarized thus: On the view that the terms of operation of a joint account constitute a term of the contract of deposit, any variation or revocation of instructions in a joint account, whether the operation is by 'either or survivor' or 'former or survivor' can be effected only under the joint signatures of all persons entitled to operate the joint account. One of the joint account holders thus cannot unilaterally instruct the Bank not to honour cheques signed by the others, issue duplicate deposit receipt, premature repayment or loan against Fixed Deposit . 13. This was also held by a Division Bench of the Lahore High Court (Shadi Lal, C.J. and Broadway, J.) in Simla Banking and Industrial Company Limited, Ambala City v. Mt. Bhagwan Kuar AIR 1928 Lahore, 316. In that case Bhagwan Kuar and her son Raghunandan Singh had deposited an amount with t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... bank may have had against Mam Chand. Besides the right of Mam Chand was to receive the money deposited only after it matured, if he survived. Supposing Mam Chand had died before the fixed deposit matured, the only person entitled to get the money would be the appellant. This right of the appellant could not have been taken away without her consent. 17. The decision cited by learned counsel on behalf of the respondents i.e. Punjab National Bank v. Surendra Prasad Sinha 1992CriLJ2916, was not rendered in connection with a joint fixed deposit account in which only one of the account holders was a debtor. In that case, both the account holders stood guarantors to the principal debtor and had jointly executed the security bond and entrusted the fixed deposit receipt as security to adjust the outstanding debt from it at maturity. 18. We have our doubts regarding the validity of the order of the Trial Court allowing the Banks information application. But it is unnecessary to pronounce on it as it does not bind the appellant as was correctly held by the Revisional Court. Nor does anything turn on the supposedly shifting stances taken by the appellant in the two legal notices as the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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