CHENNAI: A litigant who moved a sub-court in Vellore and obtained an interim order on a matter already adjudicated by the Madras high court, has been castigated by the high court which fined him Rs 1 lakh.
Vellore tahsildar shall recover `1 lakh from R V D Ramaiah of Vellore within four weeks either by selling bank shares or one of his properties, said a bench of Justice V Ramasubramanian and Justice N Kirubakaran.
At least three writ petitions had been filed ahead of the annual general body meeting of Tamilnad Mercantile Bank (TMB) raising various issues, including RBI acknowledgement for share transfer and conduct of annual general body meeting. On November 26, 2015 a single judge dismissed the petitions, vacated interim injunctions and appointed a chairman to conduct 88th to 93rd annual general meeting of the bank. He also permitted voting rights to companies that jointly exercised less than 5% voting rights.
After the November 26, 2015 order, while two of the petitioners preferred appeals butt could not earn any interim relief, Ramaiah moved a sub-court in Vellore to declare alienation of bank shares as null and void and to disallow two companies from exercising their voting rights in the January 19, 2016 elections. The subordinate court granted interim injunction, prompting a stakeholder -Sub-Continental Equities Limited -to rush to the high court. Now Rama iah is poorer by `1 lakh.
The judges, wondering how the sub court's staff numbered the petition and how the sub-judge entertained it without any jurisdiction, slammed the staff, judicial officer and the advocate.“It is disheartening to note that a sub judge, without even verifying as to whether the suit is maintainable or not, mechanically, passed an interim order.“
Rapping the registry personnel, the bench said, “even the numbering of the suit should not have been done by officials of the subordinate judiciary . There is every reason to suspect malpractice in the numbering of the suit.District judge concerned is directed to take appropriate action against the person who passed the suit and numbered it.“