Delhi high court Justice Kailash Gambhir has slammed a nationalised bank for “harassing” a city resident by refusing to pay for his commercial premises let out to it, which forced him to move courts to recover the rent.
“It is quite distressing to find out that a scheduled bank is engaging itself in fighting a legal battle on a trivial ground of disputing its liability to pay the rent at the revised rate,” Justice Gambhir said.
Dismissing the bank’s appeal against a subordinate civil court ruling which ordered it to pay the enhanced rent to Ramprakash Sherawat, the owner of the Mahipalpur-based commercial premises, the court said, “It is not expected of the government undertakings or any government corporation or scheduled bank to take stand like an unscrupulous litigant in the court of law.”
Mr Sherawat had let out the premises to the bank through a lease deed in 1990 that was valid till December 2000.
The bank, however, continued to occupy it beyond December 2000, which could be renewed only in March 2003 with an enhanced rent.
It was also stipulated that the bank would pay the enhanced rent with a retrospective effect from January 2001.