Chennai: Madras high court on Thursday set aside the order of single judge directing Royal Bank of Scotland NV return Rs 30 lakh to TD Naidu, who is running private engineering and medical college.
The Division Bench Comprising Justices M. M Sundresh and Anand Venkatesh, before which an appeal filed by the Royal Bank of Scotland, Chetput, came up for hearing, passed the order.
According to TD Naidu, he deposited Rs 20 lakh as a fixed deposit in the bank on January 23, 1998 for a period of one month at the rate of 15 per cent interest. Next day, he deposited another Rs 10 lakh. He claimed that he deposited another Rs 30 lakh on January 24, 1998, by way of cash in the fixed deposit for a period of two months for an interest rate of 18.5 per cent.
He alleged that the bank returned only Rs 30 lakh, which was deposited by way of cash. And, it did not return Rs 20 lakh and Rs 10 lakh deposited as fixed deposit by him.
A single judge of the high court passed an order in favour of Naidu and directed the bank to pay back Rs 30 lakh with interest. Challenging the single judge order, the bank filed this appeal.
Allowing the appeal from the bank, the division bench said that Naidu is not an illiterate person, who runs engineering and medical colleges. He is an income tax assessee and for the relevant assessment year and he would have shown fixed deposit made for a sum of Rs 60 lakh, if really he had deposited in the appellant bank. If he had produced the income tax returns, that would have clinched the entire case.
However, he had chosen not to reveal his income tax returns for the relevant period. “We are not in agreement with the findings of the single judge. Accordingly, we set aside the judgment and decree of the learned single judge,” the bench said.
