The High Court of Karnataka imposed a cost of ₹2 lakh on a public sector bank for insisting that it would return documents of a mortgaged property only to the original borrower, who is dead, even after accepting the loan amount from the borrower’s 85-year-old father, who voluntarily came forward and repaid his deceased son’s debt.
Justice M. Nagaprasanna passed the order while allowing a petition filed by Embee Agro Food Industries Pvt. Ltd., represented by its director, M.B. Somashekhar Gowda, 85, of Hanagawadi Industrial Area in Harihar talk of Davangere.
“The original borrower, the son of the present petitioner, is no more. He died by suicide. The bank is aware of it. The bank offers a one-time settlement (OTS) scheme to the present petitioner [father of the original borrower] which is on account of the death of his son. However, the bank now wants to return the documents to the original borrower, who is no more. It is this action of the bank that shocks the conscience of the court,” the judge observed in the order.
