Bombay High Court: In an application filed by the plaintiff Company seeking urgent relief on the ground that its property was being put up for sale by Unity Small Finance Bank under the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002 (SARFAESI), the Single Judge Bench of Gauri Godse, J., held,
“In the absence of any specific pleadings of fraud against Defendant. 1 and in the absence of valid authorisation to file this suit, at this stage, no urgent interim relief can be granted. Even otherwise, the plaintiff has a remedy of approaching the Debt Recovery Tribunal.”
The plaintiff Company had filed a commercial suit against the directors of the plaintiff company, alleging that they fraudulently signed the purported board resolution and sanction letter. The plaintiff claimed that the civil court had jurisdiction in the present matter, and the bar under Section 34 SARFAESI would not apply since the suit was filed based on pleadings of fraud against the defendants. Further, by an application, the plaintiff sought urgent relief on the grounds that Defendant 1, Unity Small Finance Bank Ltd., was going to auction its property.
The Court observed that the plaintiff Company failed to show a valid resolution, authorising the filing of the said suit. The Court noted that the certified copy of the resolution presented by the plaintiff did not appear to be that of the plaintiff company, as it referred to a special general meeting of a different company.
The Court refused to grant any urgent interim relief at this stage, since there was no specific pleading of fraud against Defendant 1-Bank and or a valid authorisation to file the said suit. The Court stated that the plaintiff had not exhausted all its remedies, as the remedy of approaching the Debt Recovery Tribunal was still available.
[Ravi Jyot Finance Leasing (P) Ltd. v. Unity Small Finance Bank Ltd., Commercial Suit (L) No. 9866 of 2026, ordered on 30-3-2026]
Advocates who appeared in this case:
For the petitioner: Chetan Kapadia, Rohan Agarwal, Malika Pujari, Dhruti Chheda, Advocates i/b M/s Vyas and Bhalwal
For the respondent: Nitin Thakkar and Birendra Saraf, Senior Advocates; Dhananjay Kumar, Saloni Kapadia, Shivani Chaturvedi, Daksha Kasekar and Saket Sharma, Advocates i/b. Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas