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Shimla, Sep 17 (IANS) The Himachal Pradesh High Court on Tuesday refused to stay the auction of assets worth Rs 288.91 crore of Indian Technomac Company Ltd and its promoters in a case relating to a bank fraud.
The order was passed by the Principal Division Bench comprising Chief Justice V. Ramasubramanian and Justice Anoop Chitkara on the petition of the state.
Posting the matter for next hearing on September 23, the bench observed the order of the Company Court directing the sale of the properties has also not been challenged by anyone.
"Therefore, interdiction of the sale, in any manner, may tantamount to annulling the orders of the Company Court, without the same being challenged in any forum. This deadlock has to be resolved only by this court," they said.
"It appears that extensive advertisements for the sale of movable and immovable properties of the company in question have been issued by the state and the auction is scheduled to be held on September 19, that is day after tomorrow.
"Therefore, without prejudice to the rights of both the parties we allow the auction to proceed, but it shall not be confirmed till further orders," the judges said.
The Excise and Taxation Commissioner of Shimla and the Deputy Commissioner of State Taxes and Excise at Nahan has filed the writ petition against the Enforcement Directorate.
While it is true that the application of the Enforcement Directorate for stay of sale was rejected by the Company Court, it is also nevertheless true that the Company Court could not have and it did not in fact prevent the Enforcement Directorate from invoking the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act of 2002, said the bench.
Therefore, it cannot be contended that the Enforcement Directorate had lost its right under the Act by virtue of the orders of Company Court, it added.
Officials told IANS the attached assets include land, building, plant and machinery of the company located at Paonta Sahib in Himachal Pradesh.
Agricultural land owned by the firm's promoter Rakesh Kumar Sharma located at Mehrauli village near Delhi and another agricultural land, in the name of Director Vinay Kumar Sharma, located in Himachal Pradesh were also attached by the Enforcement Directorate, which initiated investigation on the basis of FIRs registered by Himachal Pradesh Police.
The investigation revealed that Indian Technomac Company Ltd was sanctioned facilities comprising term loan of Rs 289.66 crore and working capital limits of Rs 1,335 crore by a consortium of banks led by the Bank of India.
--IANS
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