Kerala High Court Orders Return Of Seized Title Deed To Borrower In Karuvannur Bank Scam Case
The Kerala High Court issued a directive that if the borrower clears his dues and approaches the bank for his title deed, the bank is instructed to seek the return of the deed from the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
A plea was filed stating that the petitioner had repaid his loan in full, but the bank neither returned his property's title deed nor executed a release deed.
A Bench of Justice Sathish Ninan ordered, “that if the petitioner makes a request before the second respondent Bank for the return of the title deed and execution of Release Deed after closure of the liability, appropriate steps in the light of the submissions noted above shall be taken.”
Advocate N.L. Bitto appeared for the Petitioner and Advocate Sheeja C.S. appeared for the Respondents.
The counsel for the bank argued that he never requested the title deed from them and pointed out that the deed was in the custody of the ED. The ED informed the court that if the bank applies for the return of the title deed, they would assess whether it needs to be retained. If not, it would be returned to the bank.
The 2nd respondent was the scam-hit Karuvannur Service Co-operative bank and this judgment is said to benefit many similarly situated borrowers whose title deeds have been taken into custody by the ED in connection with its probe into the multi-crore Karuvannur bank scam.
Cause Title: Francis v. State of Kerala & Ors., [2023/KER/59152]
Click here to read/download Judgment