Nishikant Khajuria
JAMMU, Jan 27: In the biggest ever recovery from a single defaulter of the Citizens Cooperative Bank Ltd Jammu, a property worth Rs one crore was auctioned here today thus sending a strong message to the non paying borrowers of the bank, which is also all set to use SARFAESI Act 2002 against the bad debters.
The property, a chunk of around seven Kanal land at Chowadi in Jammu, was owned by Rakesh Gupta of Gandhi Nagar, proprietor of Able Traders and Able Industries, who had turned defaulter after taking a loan from the bank more than 15 years ago.
Following the nod of District Session Judge Sanjay Gupta, Tehsildar Recovery Rakesh Sharma today conducted auction of the said piece of land and sold the same to a private party for Rs one crore approximately.
This was the biggest ever NPA recovery from a single defaulter in the history of CCBL Jammu, which has accumulated over Rs 48 crores Non-Performing Assets, which are severely affecting financial health of the bank.
After taking over control of the CCBL Jammu, the Government appointed Board of Administrators has managed to lower its NPAs by Rs 5 crore within one month by launching biggest ever drive for recoveries of bad loans by issuing necessary summons and warrants against the defaulters.
The new Board of Administrators, headed by Additional Deputy Commissioner Jammu, Arun Manhas, has set a target to lower down the total NPAs to almost half by end of the current financial year.
“After serving notices and warrants to the non-payers , the bank is now all set to actively utilize SARFAESI Act 2002 for recovery of bad loans and some big defaulters are being issued notices under this provision within a week,” official sources informed the Excelsior.
The bank has identified such defaulters, who come under the SARFAESI Act, for initiation of action against them and three of them, who have to repay around Rs 50 lakh to the CCBL, are being issued notices in next two-three days, sources added.
Pertinent to mention that Securitisation and Reconstru-ction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest (SARFAESI) Act, 2002, which has been recently extended to Jammu and Kashmir State following a Supreme Court ruling, is considered as most effective tool for recovery of bad loans as banks can seize the securities (hypothecation, pledge and mortgages) without intervention of the court.
Besides, sources informed that the bank has issued warrants in 136 cases of NPA and further legal action was on for recovery of the loans. The defaulters include some prominent businessmen and influential, who did not return the loans of the CCBL Jammu, which has total deposits of Rs 307 crores and Rs 173 crore advances.
The NPAs include loans of different nature and amount, including big loans ranging from Rs 25 lakh to Rs 40 lakh, production loans, car loans, consumer loans and small loans
When contacted, Managing Director of CCBL Jammu, Ashok Goswami confirmed that property worth Rs 1 crore, owned by Rakesh Gupta, was auctioned today and the bank is all set to initiate action against other defaulter under SARFAESI Act 2002. Further, he added, special teams have been constituted for recoveries and the bank is also taking assistance of local police in this regard.
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