MUMBAI: In a big setback to HDFC Bank chief executive Sashidhar Jagdishan’s bid to come out of the legal mess he landed himself with the Lilavati Trust, the Supreme Court Friday declined to hear his plea against the FIR filed by the trust, as the petition is already pending before the Bombay High Court.
After three of the Bombay HC justices recused themselves from hearing his petition since a magistrate court had on May ordered filing an FIR against him following a petition by the Lilavati trust that runs the leading hospital in the megapolis, Jagdishan had Thursday moved the apex court seeking an immediate hearing. And the court had listed the matter for Friday.
The Lilavati Kirtilal Mehta Medical Trust and an ex-trustee Chetan Mehta have alleged that Jagdishan had taken a bribe of Rs 2.05 crore from one of the past trustees while the bank and the petitioner said the trust and the petitioner who is an ex-trustee are defaulters and the case is an attempt to delay the payments to the bank.
According to a Friday report by LiveLaw, which is an online publication that covers legal matters, a bench of justices PS Narasimha and R Mahadevan declined to entertain his plea observing that it was improper on the part of the Supreme Court to intervene in a petition that is already listed before the Bombay High Court for hearing on July 14.
He had approached the apex court saying three Bombay HC judges had recused from hearing the matter, causing a delay in the hearing.
The LiveLaw report further said senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for the Lilavati Trust, objected to the petitioner approaching the apex court saying the matter is already listed before the HC for July 14 hearing with the consent of the petitioner himself.
To this, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the petitioner, pressed for interim protection at least till July 14 arguing that the FIR was frivolous and that the bank has been roped into a private dispute between the trustees. "Their only intention is to get the MD to the police station," Rohatgi argued.
HDFC Bank had earlier refuted charges saying the bank and its senior officials are being targeted by unscrupulous persons who are abusing the legal process to thwart the recovery of the long outstanding loan due to the bank from recalcitrant defaulters-Splendour Gems (earlier known as Beautiful Diamonds) which is promoted by the family of the main petitioner in the matter.
Initially, Jagdishan's plea was listed for hearing before a HC division bench of justices Ajay Gadkari and Rajesh Patil on June 18. However, Justice Patil cited some personal difficulty and recused from hearing the matter and the court has agreed to hear the matter Friday.
HDFC Bank had been refuting all the charges lelvelled by the trust and Mehta saying the bank and its senior officials are being targeted by unscrupulous persons who are abusing the legal process to thwart the recovery of the long outstanding loan due to the bank from recalcitrant defaulter-Splendour Gems (formerly known as Beautiful Diamonds), a company owned by the petitioner Mehta and had owed Rs 65.22 crore to the bank till end May.