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The plaintiff Bank has filed this suit for the recovery of Rs.4,38,964/- together with interest at the rate of 9.70% p.a. from the date of the suit till the date of realisation of the entire said amount and also for the sale of the hypothicated car bearing Reg. No.KA-02-MN-6815 towards recovery of the the said decreatal amount and also costs of the suit from the defendant.

2. The plaint averments in brief are that :

The plaintiff is a Banking Company incorporated under the provisions of Banking Companies (Acquisition and transfer of undertakings) Act 1970. It is having its head office at J.C.Road, Bengaluru and several other branches across the country and one such branch at Vijayanagara, Magadi Chord road, Bengaluru. It is contended that, on the request of the defendant by way of loan application, the plaintiff Bank has advanced a loan of Rs.5 lakhs to him on 09.07.2018 for / 4 / O.S.No.2031/2022 purchasing a vehicle. The defendant has executed loan documents including Hypothication Agreement agreeing to repay the said loan with interest at the rate of 12.51% which is subject to variation from time to time in equal monthly installments of Rs.8,007/- commencing from 08.07.2018. The defendant has also hypothicated the vehicle towards security for the repayment of the said loan. After availing the loan, the said defendant did not adhere strictly to the stipulated terms of repayment of the said loan amount. The defendant has paid some loan installments and thereafter he stopped payment of loan installments despite several requests and approaches of the plaintiff Bank. As a result, the said loan was classified as NPA on 11.05.2021. The plaintiff Bank has issued a legal notice dated 26.07.2021 through its counsel by way of RPAD calling upon the defendant to pay the outstanding loan amount due to the plaintiff Bank within 15 days from the date of receipt of the said notice. Although the said legal notice was duly served on the defendant, he has neither replied to the said legal notice nor complied with the terms of the said legal notice. The said / 5 / O.S.No.2031/2022 defendant is due in a sum of Rs.4,38,964/- as on the date of filling of this suit as per the loan Account No.1146603018965 maintained by the plaintiff Bank in the usual and ordinary course of its Banking transaction. The defendant is liable to pay the said outstanding due amount together with interest at the rate of 7.70% per annum and also 2% penal interest compoundable with monthly rests as per the stipulated terms and conditions of the repayment of the loan amount. Therefore, the plaintiff Bank having left with no other alternative has constrained to file this suit for the recovery of the outstanding loan amount together with interest and cost of the suit from defendant.

/ 7 / O.S.No.2031/2022 on 23.12.2020 and Rs.20,000/- on 27.05.2021. Again thereafter also, the plaintiff Bank has started pressurising the defendant to make the payment of entire due amount. The defendant suffered huge loss in his business. Therefore, he is unable to make the payment in one lump sum. He requested the plaintiff Bank to re-schedule the terms of the loan waiving the interest. The defendant has promptly paid loan installments prior to COVID-19. Without considering all these facts, the plaintiff Bank has taken extreme steps and approached this court for the recovery of the loan amount and as such there is no cause of action arisen to a plaintiff Bank to file this suit. As per the loan agreement, the dispute has to be referred to the Arbitrator in view of Arbitration Clause and therefore, this court has no jurisdiction to entertain and decide this suit. Further, loan agreement produced before the court is not bearing the date of the application and also the printed formate is incompletely filled up. The court fee paid is insufficient and not proper. The defendant's admit that he has approached the plaintiff Bank for loan for the purpose of purchasing a car and the plaintiff / 8 / O.S.No.2031/2022 Bank has also agreed to sanction the said loan on the hypothicating the said vehicle. The defendant has sustained huge loss in the business. He shifted his residence to his native place. He returned to Bengaluru only after recovery of the situation. He has voluntarily approached the plaintiff Bank and on its instruction, he made some deposits. However the plaintiff Bank failed to extend the facility of one time settlement or re-scheduling the loan and filed this false suit. Hence, this suit is liable to be dismissed. On these and certain other grounds, the defendant has prayed for dismissing the suit of the plaintiff Bank with costs.

As these issues are interlinked with each other, I take them at one stretch for my consideration and determination to avoid repetition of facts.

PW.1 who is Senior Manager and authorised person of plaintiff Bank has reiterated the material plaint averments in his evidence. As per the evidence of said PW.1, on the request of the defendant by way of loan application, the plaintiff Bank has advanced a loan of Rs.5 lakhs to him on 09.07.2018 for purchasing a vehicle. The defendant has executed loan documents including Hypothication Agreement agreeing to repay the said loan with interest at the rate of 12.51% which is subject to variation from time to time in equal monthly / 11 / O.S.No.2031/2022 installments of Rs.8,007/- commencing from 08.07.2018. The defendant has also hypothicated the vehicle towards security for the repayment of the said loan. After availing the loan, the said defendant did not adhere strictly to the stipulated terms of repayment of the said loan amount. The defendant has paid some loan installments and thereafter he stopped payment of loan installments despite several requests and approaches of the plaintiff Bank. As a result, the said loan was classified as NPA on 11.05.2021. The plaintiff Bank has issued a legal notice dated 26.07.2021 through its counsel by way of RPAD calling upon the defendant to pay the outstanding loan amount due to the plaintiff Bank within 15 days from the date of receipt of the said notice. Although the said legal notice was duly served on the defendant, he has neither replied to the said legal notice nor complied with the terms of the said legal notice. The said defendant is due in a sum of Rs.4,38,964/- as on the date of filling of this suit as per the loan Account No.1146603018965 maintained by the plaintiff Bank in the usual and ordinary course of its Banking transaction. The defendant is liable to / 12 / O.S.No.2031/2022 pay the said outstanding due amount together with interest at the rate of 7.70% per annum and also 2% penal interest compoundable with monthly rests as per the stipulated terms and conditions of the repayment of the loan amount. It is to note that, the plaintiff Bank has produced loan application of the defendant dated 09.07.2018 as per Ex.P.1 and loan sanction letter dated 15.07.2018 sanctioning the loan of Rs.5 lakhs to the defendant for purchasing the vehicle as per Ex.P.2. The plaintiff Bank has also produced the Loan Agreement as per Ex.P.3 and particulars of the hypothicated vehicle as per Ex.P.4 which supports the testimony of PW.1 that the defendant has hypothicated Maruthi Suzuki car bearing Reg.No.KA-02-MN- 6815 as a security to the loan transaction and also agreed to repay the said loan with interest at the rate of 8.85% per annum which is subject to variation from time to time as per the RBI guidelines in monthly installments of Rs.8,007/- each. Ex.P.5 is the office copy of the legal notice dated 26.07.2021 got issued by the plaintiff Bank through its counsel calling upon the defendant to repay the outstanding loan amount of / 13 / O.S.No.2031/2022 Rs.4,28,287/- together with notice costs of Rs.1500/- within 15 days from the date of receipt of the said notice. Ex.P.6 is a postal receipt for having sent the said legal notice by RPAD. Ex.P.7 is a postal acknowledgment card evidencing the fact that the said legal notice was personally served to the defendant. A perusal of the Ex.P.8 which is certified copy of the statement of loan account of the defendant maintained by the plaintiff Bank in the usual and ordinary course of its Banking transaction disclose that the defendant is due in a sum of Rs.4,38,964.94/- as on 26.12.2021 to the plaintiff Bank.

9. In the present case, the defendant has not disputed that he approached the plaintiff Bank for financial assistance for purchasing a car and availed the loan of Rs.5 lakhs by hypothicating the said vehicle. The said defendant has taken up contentions that, he promptly paid loan installments but he was unable to pay the loan installments during pandemic COVID-19 period due to suffering heavy loss in his business and as such he requested the plaintiff Bank to re-schedule the / 14 / O.S.No.2031/2022 loan by waiving the interest during pandemic period but the plaintiff Bank did not heed to his such requests and made him to deposit a sum of Rs.15,000/- on 23.12.2020 and Rs.20,000/- on 27.05.2021 and thereafter, the plaintiff Bank started demanding for the payment of the entire loan amount in one lump sum. The defendant has also contended that, the plaintiff Bank has taken his signature on the printed agreement form without informing the rate of interest and penal interest and as such the Mortgage Agreement is not within his knowledge. All such contentions raised by the defendant in his written statement has remained as contentions only without substantiating the same by means of adducing clear and cogent rebuttal evidence. On the other hand, the plaintiff by the oral evidence of PW.1 coupled with Exs.P.1 to P.8 has proved that the defendant has availed a term loan of Rs.5 lakhs for purchasing a vehicle and executed the loan documents hypothicating the Maruthi Car bearing Reg.No.KA-02-MN-6815 as a security to the said loan transaction and after availing the loan, he failed to adhere strictly to the repayment schedule / 15 / O.S.No.2031/2022 inspite of several approaches and request by the officials of the plaintiff Bank and issuance of legal notice and as such he is liable to pay the outstanding loan amount due to the plaintiff Bank as on the date of the filing of the suit. Accordingly, the Issues Nos.1 and 3 framed herein above are answered in the affirmative in favour of the plaintiff Bank.