freelawyer

An impartial (and free) legal opinion on the above issue:

The reply of Merlin Projects Ltd appears to incriminate them further instead of absolving them. Reasons for expressing this opinion are duly explained below:

1. The matter of Bank Loan defaults/CIBIL Reports are not relevant to the cases filed against Merlin and will not absolve them if they are proved to be otherwise guilty;

2. CIBIL reports can only be accessed by CIBIL Members (generally Banks). If Merlin is not a member and have used the reports for purposes other than intended then they could be slapped with severe criminal charges under IPC and the IT Acts.

3. The CIBIL Reports appear to be incorrect because names of the lender banks (except ICICI Bank) are not displayed in the reports which would appear to indicate that ICICI Bank passed on the reports to Merlin Projects Ltd.

4. Even if the CIBIL reports are genuine, the complainants would most likely file criminal charges against Merlin & ICICI Bank for illegal access and misuse of the said CIBIL reports and could obtain compensation in Crores of Rupees from Merlin and ICICI Bank.

5. From the content of their website, it appears that the complainants are quite well off, well educated, are tax payers and do not seem to be the typical types who would cheat Banks by taking multiple loans. Their website would invoke public sympathy and favourable court decisions. Also, as per the CIBIL Reports, the complainants are PAN card holders and it is quite impossible for Pan Card holders to obtain repeated loans from different Banks. This matter should have been verified thoroughly by Merlin before publicizing the issue of loan default by the complainants. However, in this respect, Merlin seems to have already burnt their fingers by accessing and displaying the CIBIL Reports.

5. From the High Court Order it appears that applicability of the SARFAESI Act for repossession of the property was not admitted and the matter was kept open for mention. It also appears that the Court directed the Bank not to take any action in regard to the property till the writ petition was disposed off. Therefore if Merlin and / or the Bank disposed off the property while the said writ application was 'sub-judice' then such action would be deemed as invalid and the sale would be cancelled. Also, both the parties would face charges for having acted in violation of High Court Orders.

6. The personal items left by the complainant in the property seems to be a bait set up by them with the motive of retaining symbolic possession of the property till their writ petition was disposed off. If Merlin and/or the Bank allowed access rights of the property to any 3rd. party before applicability of the SARFAESI Act on the property was admitted by the High Court then the complainants can, even falsely, claim losses, damages or theft to prosecute the Bank and Merlin and it is likely that their charges would stick.

7. The complainant appears to have received a very favourable Order from the Consumer Court. It is unlikely that higher Courts will overrule this very strong Order passed by a Senior High Court Judge.

8. From their action of filing cases in various courts, it appears that the complainants are investing large sums of money to entrap Merlin and/or the Bank in a legal manner. The complainants do not appear to have any interest in getting back their house and are only mentioning this to garner public support as well as the sympathy of Courts and law enforcement officers.

9. It appears that the Police are delaying the matter to see if the case can be mutually settled by the concerned parties or if Merlin can somehow pressurize the complainant to withdraw the cases filed by them. However, going by the evidence submitted by the complainants and the Order passed by the Consumer Court, it seems impossible for the Police to avoid issuing a charge-sheet against Merlin and the Bank and if they do not do so, the complainant may approach the CBI in which case even the concerned Police Officials may face charges.

If the complainants have really defaulted on loans then they would care two hoots for their reputation after managing to swallow the loan amounts and they would be fully aware that only the concerned Banks can prosecute them and not Merlin.

If they are not loan defaulters then they would slap Merlin with other charges and make them stick.

If the Police or any other law enforcement agency should file a charge sheet against Merlin (which appears to be inevitable) then the complainants would cause huge loss of reputation to Merlin by widely publicizing the matter.

For Merlin it is a case of "heads you win, tails I lose".

FREELEGAL