The Delhi High Court has directed SBI to maintain status quo on the accounts of RCOM, Reliance Telecom and Reliance Infratel, which have been declared fraud accounts by the bank.
The order was passed with respect to a plea by erstwhile directors of the three companies challenging a 2016 circular of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The plea highlighted that the 2016 circular allowed banks to declare any account fraud without giving any prior notice or communication to the account holder and was therefore against the principles of natural justice.
The legal representatives of the three companies informed the court that several similar petitions against the circular have been filed since 2019 and the petitioners in those matters have been protected by the high court.
The Delhi HC also noted that the respondents, including RBI and the three companies, were at liberty to file their replies to the petition by January 11, 2021, and listed the matter for hearing on January 13, 2021.
