1. Feeling aggrieved and dissatisfied with the impugned judgment and order dated 16.08.2021 passed by the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad in Writ Petition No. 15194 of 2021, by which the High Court has allowed the said writ petition preferred by Respondent No. 1 herein (original writ Petitioner) and has, in exercise of powers Under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, issued a writ of mandamus directing the Appellant - Bank to positively consider the original writ Petitioner's application for One Time Settlement (OTS), the Bank has preferred the present appeal.
2. The facts leading to the present appeal in a nutshell are as under:
That the original writ Petitioner had obtained credit facility from the bank of about Rs. 1 crore. The said loan account with the Bank was categorised as "Non-Performing Asset, (NPA)". The Bank also initiated proceedings under the provisions of the Securitization and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002 (hereinafter referred to as the 'SARFAESI Act'). That there were two other loan accounts also which were being regularly serviced by Respondent No. 1-original writ Petitioner, meaning thereby that the payment was regularised insofar as two other loan accounts are concerned. However, so far as the present loan account is concerned, which was declared as NPA, not a single amount was paid till an application for extending the benefit of OTS was submitted.
2.1 That One Time Settlement Scheme was issued by the Bank vide OTS Circular dated 01.08.2013 which provided that on the conditions contained in the said circular being complied with, the benefit of OTS can be taken by the debtor. The benefit of OTS Scheme came to be extended till 30.11.2019. The original writ Petitioner submitted an application for consideration of her case under OTS vide application dated 22.07.2019. Vide communication dated 17.09.2019, her application for grant of benefit under the OTS came to be rejected on the ground that she is not eligible for OTS under the OTS Scheme and that the loan can be recovered by auction of the mortgaged property and that there are chances of recovering the loan amount and that her loan account has been declared as 'NPA'. It appears that to come out of NPA eligibility, the original writ Petitioner deposited a sum of Rs. 60 lakhs on 02.03.2020, i.e., after rejection of her earlier application on the ground that as her loan account is "NPA', she is not eligible for OTS Scheme.
2.2 The Board of the Bank also passed a resolution dated 28.12.2020 to the effect that original writ Petitioner is not eligible for the benefit under the OTS Scheme for the reason that the loan account is fully recoverable and all the measures to recover the loan amount have not yet been exhausted and the chances of recovery of the loan amount are still there.
2.3 The original writ Petitioner filed a writ petition before the High Court being Writ Petition No. 18221 of 2020 challenging the order dated 17.09.2019 passed by the Bank rejecting her application for giving the benefit of OT........