The Delhi High Court on Tuesday issued a notice to Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative Bank on a plea seeking directions to the bank to decide on the request application of the depositors for withdrawal of their hard-earned money.
A division bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan issued notice to the respondents and directed the concerned parties to file affidavits on the matter till the next date of hearing -- August 19, when the court will also take up the main hearing in the matter.
The petitioners, through advocate Shashank Deo Sudhi, sought directions to the bank and others to immediately lift the procedural curb on withdrawal of money without any condition to allow the depositors to cater to their urgent needs amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The plea said that the bank and other respondents have not considered the representations of the depositors of PMC Bank for a withdrawal of urgent amount in terms of the needs of the depositors as earlier directed by the court as well.
It said that the depositors of PMC bank had made representations explaining their hardships and financial difficulties being faced due to the moratorium on withdrawal of money from the PMC Bank.
"The depositors of PMC bank are completely dismayed at the response of respondents as the respondents had not considered their urgent financial requirement in such a period of health crisis and had insensitively shown their inability to help in the withdrawal of required amount from the PMC bank," the plea said.
It added that the current scenario casts serious doubt on the legitimacy of the banking system of our country, which is not responding even to the critical situation of the depositors in a pandemic.
"The hypocrisy of the lack of liquidity with the bank as evidenced by the fact that approximately more than Rs 8 crore is being spent on the upkeep and maintenance of the non-functioning PMC Bank branches," it said.
Earlier, the High Court had directed the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), PMC Bank and others to consider the needs of the depositors during the coronavirus-induced lockdown.
The interim application was filed in the pending petition filed by Bejon Kumar Misra, earlier, challenging withdrawal limits in the bank.
In September last year, the RBI had capped the deposit withdrawal limit at Rs 40,000 and restricted the activities of the PMC Bank after an alleged fraud of Rs 4,355 crore came to light. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has seized and identified movable and immovable assets worth more than Rs 3,830 crore owned by HDIL in connection with the case.
( With inputs from ANI )