Bombay High Court
Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited vs Ridge Innovation Pvt. Ltd. And Rajan ... on 19 October, 2018
Author: G.S. Patel
Bench: G.S. Patel
913-CHSCDL1413-18.DOC
Arun
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
ORDINARY ORIGINAL CIVIL JURISDICTION
IN ITS COMMERCIAL DIVISION
CHAMBER SUMMONS (L) NO. 1413 OF 2018
IN
COMM EXECUTION APPLICATION NO. 1642 OF 2018
Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd ...Applicant
In the matter between
Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd ...Plaintif
Versus
Ridge Innovation Pvt Ltd ...Defendant
And
Bhalchandra V Datar & Ors ...Proposed
Defendants
Mr Pradeep Sancheti, Senior Advocate, with Ms SI Joshi and Ms
Nikita Pawar, i/b SI Joshi & Company, for the Applicant.
Ms Mallika Taly, with Mr Mukul Taly and Mr Vitobha Masurkar, i/b
S Mahomedbhai & Company, for the Defendants.
Mr Dandapani Brahma, Executive Vice-President (Product Head) of
the Applicant, present.
CORAM: G.S. PATEL, J
DATED: 19th October 2018
PC:-
1. There is an Affidavit dated 19th October 2018 affirmed by Mr
Dandapani Brahma, the Executive Vice-President (Product Head),
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of the Applicant, Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd ("KML"). It will be
filed in the Registry after correct continuous pagination. Mr Brahma
is present in court.
2. I have seen the Affidavit. It contains an unconditional apology
in paragraphs 1 to 5 and thereafter ofers an explanation of sorts to
justify KML's masking out or obscuring portions of the
transactional documents of 31st March 2003, 31st March 2004 and
21st March 2006. As I noted in my order of 16th October 2018, this
masking / concealment was not only in the copies given to the other
side represented by Ms Taly but was even in the original Affidavit
filed in Court, as annexures to that Affidavit. I impounded those
three documents. They have been brought to Court today.
3. Mr Sancheti has instructions to state, and as an officer of the
Court he accepts, that this kind of concealment could never have
been done from anything tendered to Court. That is an absolutely
correct statement and is accepted as such. He seeks leave, again on
instructions, to withdraw the present Chamber Summons with
liberty to file a fresh Chamber Summons annexing complete copies
with no attempt at concealment or masking of any of these three
supporting documents. I will grant him that leave and that liberty on
the condition that the entire set of correspondence between KML,
the original Award Holder Tata Finance Limited ("Tata Finance")
and Datar Switchgear Limited ("Datar Switchgear") or its
successors in title are annexed in its entirety so that there is no
controversy about this going forward. I am not accepting the
justification or explanation in paragraph 6 of the present Affidavit or
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any further paragraphs but will grant the liberty and the leave simply
on Mr Sancheti's statement made on instructions.
4. The documents in question will be returned by the
Prothonotary and Senior Master to the Advocates for the Applicant
once the masking is removed in the presence of the Prothonotary
and Senior Master. Chamber Summons (L) No. 1413 of 2018 is
dismissed as withdrawn with liberty as prayed.
5. The Respondent, Ridge Innovations Private Limited
("RIPL"), has filed a Chamber Summons (L) No. 1559 of 2018 under Section 340 read with Section 195 of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973 ("CrPC"). A copy has just been served on the Advocates for KML. I will list this Chamber Summons by RIPL on 31st October 2018.
6. I expect that by that date KML will have filed and served its own fresh Chamber Summons. Both matters will be listed on the supplementary board on that day.
7. The previous order permitting Ms Taly to take colour photocopies of the documents (both with and without masking) is continued and those certified copies will be issued before the documents are returned to the Advocate for KML.
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