SC’s poser to banks: Why double standards in one-time settlement?

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday questioned the decision of Punjab National Bank and Bank of Maharashtra to offer one time settlement (OTS) to Asian Hotels, which owns Hyatt Regency five-star hotel in Delhi, and sought details of the attempts made to auction the property to realise the loan amount.On the allegation of advocate Prashant Bhushan on behalf of petitioner NGO ‘Infrastructure Watchdog', a bench headed by CJI Surya Kant said it is surprising that the banks made no attempt to auction the assets and settled for an amount which was far less than the amount owed to them by Asian Hotels.
"Why no attempt to auction the five star hotel was made after 2023? The auction could have fetched a very high price," the bench said. Additional solicitor general R Venkataramani said the NGO is attempting a roving inquiry when the process was followed scrupulously and the banks recovered 116% of the initial loan amount.The bench said it has come across a case where a widow, after the death of her husband, offered Rs 30 lakh to settle the bank loan of Rs 45 lakh for the purchase of the only house she had. The court had to come to the rescue of the widow as the banks refused to settle the amount and wanted to auction the house to realise the outstanding loan amount, the CJI said."When it comes to a widow, the banks insist on recovering the entire amount due, but their consideration becomes entirely different when it is a five-star hotel," the CJI said and directed the ASG to place on record documents relating to OTS and the previous attempts made to auction the hotel.