9911796707
TMI Blog2012 (7) TMI 105X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 3. From the materials on record, it appears that on 4th April, 2000, at the initiative of the Respondent, a Hire-Purchase Agreement was entered into between the Appellant and the Respondent herein, to enable the Respondent to avail the benefit of hire-purchase in respect of a Maruti Omni Car. In accordance with the terms and conditions of the Agreement, the Appellant granted a hire-purchase facility to the Respondent for a sum of Rs. 1,82,396/-, which was repayable, along with interest, in 60 equal monthly hire charges of Rs. 4,604/- each. Clause 2.1 of the Hire-Purchase Agreement provides for payment of the hire charges in the manner stipulated in the Schedule to the Agreement and it also indicates that timely payment of the hire charges was the essence of the Agreement. 4. On the failure of the Respondent to pay the hire charges in terms of the repayment schedule, the Appellant sent a legal notice to the Respondent on 10th October, 2002, recalling the entire hire-purchase facility. It further appears that as many as 26 cheques issued by the Respondent towards payment of the hire-charges were dishonoured on presentation. By the said legal notice, the Respondent was informed that ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... k of India. After the vehicle was sold, the Appellant sent a post-sale letter to the Respondent on 9th June, 2003, informing her that the vehicle had been sold for Rs. 70,000/- and that the said amount had been adjusted towards the total outstanding dues amounting to Rs. 1,21,920.48p. The Respondent was also asked to pay the balance amount of Rs. 51,920.48p. which still remained due after adjustment of the sale price of the vehicle. 9. In June, 2003, the Respondent filed Consumer Complaint No. 280 of 2003 before the Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Sheikh Sarai, against the Appellant alleging deficiency in service on their part. The Appellant filed its reply to the said complaint before the aforesaid Forum in August, 2003. Thereafter, the Respondent filed an application to amend Consumer Complaint No. 283 of 2003. The same was allowed and the amended complaint was taken up for consideration. By its order dated 22nd December, 2003, the District Forum-VII, Sheikh Sarai, directed the Appellant to pay a sum of Rs. 1,50,000/-, along with interest at the rate of 9% per annum, from the date of filing of the complaint (16.6.2003) till the date of payment, together with a further sum of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... greement had run to its full terms, shall become due and payable forthwith. 26.2 The owner, through its authorized representatives, servants, agents, shall have unrestricted right of entry in the aforesaid events and shall not be entitled to retake possession of the vehicle(s). The Hirer shall be bound to return the vehicle(s) to the owner at such location, as the Owner may designate, in the same condition in which it was originally delivered to the Hirer (ordinary wear and tear excepted). For the said purpose it shall be lawful for the Owner forthwith or at any time and without notice to the Hirer to enter upon the premises, or garage, or godown, where the vehicle(s) shall be lying or kept and to take possession or recover and receive the same and if necessary to break open any such place. The Owner will be well within his rights to use tow-van to carry away the vehicle(s). The Hirer shall not prevent or obstruct the Owner from taking the possession of the vehicle and shall be liable to pay any towing charges or other expenses incurred in this regard. 26.3 The Owner shall be in the aforesaid events be entitled to sell/transfer/assign the vehicle(s) either by public action or by ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... over to him. Mr. Desai also urged that the jurisdiction of the Consumer Forum was to ensure that the Agreement between the parties was duly executed, but it had no jurisdiction to rewrite the terms of the Agreement. In this regard, Mr. Desai submitted that the Consumer Forum had gone beyond its jurisdiction in settling and deciding the question regarding the validity of the Hire-Purchase Agreement itself. Learned counsel submitted that the Reserve Bank of India had issued guidelines on 24th April, 2008 to all Scheduled Commercial Banks, regarding the policy to be adopted by Banks in engaging Recovery Agents for recovering their dues. On the issue relating to the engagement of Recovery Agents, the Banks were directed to take note of the specific conditions set out in the guidelines in that behalf. Clause 2(ii) makes it very clear that Banks should have a due diligence process in place for engagement of Recovery Agents, which should be so structured to cover, among others, individuals involved in the recovery process. Clause 2(ix) relates to the method to be followed by Recovery Agents and the Banks were advised to strictly adhere to the guidelines/Code during the loan recovery proce ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d is governed by the guidelines issued by the Reserve Bank of India from time to time. Ms. Padmanabhan submitted that on 26th October, 2007, this Court had in the present proceedings expressed concern over the manner in which loans by financial institutions were being recovered. Learned counsel submitted that this Court was particularly concerned with the procedure adopted for recovery of such loan amounts by financial institutions by alleged use of force, despite the directions given by this Court in Manager, ICICI Bank Ltd. v. Prakash Kaur [2007] 7 SCC 433. It was submitted that the Reserve Bank of India had formulated operational guidelines for adoption by all commercial banks. Pursuant to the guidelines of July, 2009, relating to Debt Collections Standards in India, the Citibank had updated its Code for collection of dues and re-possession of security. It was submitted that the said guidelines were detailed and expansive and attempted to cover all the shortcomings in the earlier guidelines in order to ensure that no force was used for the purpose of effecting recovery of the dues. 18. Mr. Prashant Kumar, learned Advocate, appearing for the Appellants in the four Special Leave ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Mr. Dharampal Yadav submitted that the methodologies adopted by the Recovery Agents were contrary to the guidelines laid down by the Banks themselves and in the decisions of this Court in several other matters, where it has been uniformly indicated that recovery would have to be effected in due process of law and not by the use of muscle power. 21. Since during the pendency of the Special Leave Petitions before this Court, the Appellant had complied with the orders of the District Forum and the National Commission had already set aside the punitive damages imposed by the State Commission, the reliefs prayed for on behalf of the Appellant had been rendered ineffective and the submissions were, therefore, channeled towards the question of whether the fora below were right in holding that the vehicles had been illegally and/or wrongfully recovered by use of force from the loanees. The aforesaid question has since been settled by several decisions of this Court and in particular in the decision rendered in Prakash Kaur's case ( supra). It is, not, therefore, necessary for us to go into the said question all over again and we reiterate the earlier view taken that even in case of mortga ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
