HYDERABAD: Justice G Radha Rani of the Telangana High Court on Friday dismissed the petition of Garikapati Venkateswara Rao, Director, and Chairman of GVR Infra Projects Limited, stating that the scope of the Look Out Circular (LOC) was expanded to include economic offenders who impeded India’s interests and that in the larger public interest, a lookout circular can be issued. The court held that if the LOC is withdrawn after the respondent bank commenced recovery procedures against the petitioner, the petitioner may leave India which makes the recovery of crores of rupees of public funds impossible.
The petitioner filed a writ seeking a declaration as illegal, arbitrary, and in violation of Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, of the action of the respondent banks which sought a travel ban on him and the Foreigners’ Regional Registration Office’s subsequent action in imposing a travel ban on the petitioner.
The counsel for the petitioner noted that on inquiry, the petitioner had learned that a travel ban was placed on the petitioner based on instructions issued by the Bank of Baroda officials concerned. The resolution plan covered the total debt amount, and the resolution plan had taken over GVR Infra Projects. The counsel argued that the petitioner was no longer associated with the firm.
The counsel further argued that some consortium banks claimed that the petitioner continued to act as a personal guarantor and filed proceedings before the Debt Recovery Tribunal, which were still pending. But, the counsel said that the fact of the matter was that the DRT did not issue any orders. Simply because the petitioner was a personal guarantor, Chennai, the travel ban could not be imposed on the petitioner without evidence that he would flee the jurisdiction of the court.