TMI Blog1995 (2) TMI 464X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... No. 1 the said account is to be operated jointly by G.L. Bhatia and Ashok Chattopadhyay, the Managing Director of respondent No. 1. One bearer cheque bearing No. 425395 dated August 26, 1992 for a sum of ₹ 1,95,000/- was drawn on the appellant-bank. The said cheque was encashed at the said branch of the appellant-bank on August 26, 1992 and the amount of ₹ 95,000/- was debited to the account of respondent No. 1. The case of the appellant-bank is that the said amount was paid to one Jadhav, whose signatures were appended at the back of the cheque, and who was an employee of respondent No. 1. The said cheque admittedly contains the signature of G.L. Bhatia. The other signature purports to be of Ashok Chattopadhyay, the Managing D ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Writ of mandamus or a Writ or Order or direction in the nature of mandamus under Article 226 of the Constitution directing the Petitioner bank to reverse the debit entry dated 26.8.1992 for ₹ 95,000/- in their Current A/C No. 318 or direct the petitioner Company herein of a sum of ₹ 95,000/- with interest thereon at the rate of 18% from the date of the said amount had been withdrawn from the account. (b) to direct the Petitioner herein to credit a sum of ₹ 95,000/- in the current,account No. 318 during the pendency of the Writ Petition on the respondent no. 1 herein furnishing an indemnity for the same. 4. In the said Writ Petition an affidavit dated July 6, 1993 of Rajiv V. Pinglay, who is employed as Advance Ledg ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... king payment of large amount. The fact that cheque was forged is not in dispute and the complaint filed by the Manager before the police nowhere claims that payment was made to any employee of the petitioners. The affidavit filed by R.V. Pinglay the cashier appears to be prima facie false and an after-thought. 6. In accordance with the said order of the High Court the appellant-bank credited a sum of ₹ 95,000/- to the account of respondent No. 1 on July 9, 1993. From the counter- affidavit of Capt. Ashok Kumar Aggarwal filed on behalf of respondent No. 1 it appears that respondent No. 1 has with- drawn a substantial part of the said amount leaving a balance of about ₹ 6001.65. 7. Feeling aggrieved by the said order of th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ught. It has been pointed out that in the correspondence with respondent No.1 the appellant-bank did not accept the contention of respondent No.1 that one of the signatures of the joint signatories, namely, Ashok Chattopadhyay, the Managing Director of respondent No. 1, was forged and further that the case of the appellant-bank is that the payment of the cheque was made in the ordinary course of business and that the procedure for honouring the cheque by the bank officials was correctly followed in the matter of encashment of the cheque. The appellant-bank has also denied the allegations made by respondent No. 1 that there was collusion of bank staff with an outside unknown person for payment of the cheque and it was asserted that it was ob ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 1138. 10.Since the Writ Petition is still pending in the High Court and the question of maintainability of the Writ Petition has yet to be considered we do not propose to go into the said question. All that we wish to say at this stage is that the objections that have been raised by the appellant-bank against the maintainability of the writ peti- tion are not such that they may be disregarded as lacking in substance. This is a factor which has a bearing or the exercise of discretion by die Court while passing the interim order in the writ petition. 11. By the interim order the High Court has directed the appellant-bank to credit a sum of ₹ 95,000/- in the current account No. 318 of respondent No. 1. The High Court has recorded t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... igh Court regarding crediting the sum of ₹ 95,000/in the current account No. 318 of the respondents is set aside. Since the appellant-bank has already deposited-the said amount of ₹ 95,000/- in the current ac- count of respondents in pursuance of the said directions of the High Court it is directed that the respondents will refund the said amount to the appellant-bank within a period of one month and on their failure to do so the High Court will take steps to enforce the undertaking that has been furnished by the respondents in pursuance of the said interim order. It will be open to the learned counsel for the parties to request the High Court for an early disposal of the Writ Petition and the High Court will give due regard to ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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