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Judgment
The present Company Petition has been filed by Mr. Ashwin Chandvlal Shroff under Section 73(4) of the Companies Act, 2013 by the Depositors of Birla Shloka Edutech Limited, the Respondent Company. The Applicant invested in the Fixed Deposit Schemes proposed by the Company in the year 2012. The depositors herein have prayed seeking direction against the Respondent to pay the depository dues along with the interest.
The Applicant submits that the amounts deposited in the Scheme had matured in the year 2015. However, even after 8 years neither the Principal amount nor the interest component have been repaid to the Applicant in accordance with the Scheme. The Applicant say that he has faced several financial hardships in this period. Having no recourse, the Applicant filed the present petition in the Tribunal.
Pursuant to the directions of this Tribunal, notices were sent to the Respondent. The counsel for the Respondent appeared on 11.05.2023 but due to paucity of time matter could not be heard. Subsequently as a last chance for appearance, notice was duly served upon the Respondent on 10.07.2023 and the notice was delivered to the Respondent but despite that none appeared on behalf of the Respondent with the result that this Tribunal vide Order dated 09.10.2023 proceeded ex-parte against the Respondent.
The relevant details of the Fixed Deposit Receipts extracted from the Petition is as under:-
Name of
Depositor
FD
No.
Date of FD
FD type
Interest
Rate
Maturity
of FD
Principal
Amount
Interest upto
maturity
Interest
upto
31.10.2022
Total
Ashwin
Shroff
19
07.03.2012
Non-
Cumulative
12.50%
06.03.2015
25,000
6,250
24,063
55313
We have heard the submissions of the Applicants and perused the records. Section 73 (3), (4) of the Companies Act, 2013 is reproduced as under :-
“Section 73: Prohibition on acceptance of deposits from public.
(3) Every deposit accepted by a company under sub-section (2) shall be repaid with interest in accordance with the terms and conditions of the agreement referred to in that sub-section.
(4) Where a company fails to repay the deposit or part thereof or any interest thereon under sub-section (3), the depositor concerned may apply to the Tribunal for an order directing the company to pay the sum due or for any loss or damage incurred by him as a result of such non-payment and for such other orders as the Tribunal may deem fit.”
Perusal of the above provision indicates the power of this Tribunal to direct the Company to repay the matured deposits to the depositors as per the terms and conditions of its issuance.
It is an admitted position that there was an inordinate delay in repayment of the deposit amounts and the interest @ 12.50% duly payable on maturity of these deposits.
In view of the above discussion, we allow the petition holding Respondent Company liable to repay the deposit amounts of Rs. 25,000/- with interest @ 12.50% from 07.03.2012 till the date of actual payment along with cost of Rs. 10,000/-. With the above observations, the Company Petition is allowed and disposed of.