Mangaluru firm seeks Rs 101.77 crore in damages from Axis Bank

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru, August 20, 2017: The 10th Additional City Civil and Sessions Court, Bengaluru, on August 14 issued summons and a notice to Axis Bank’s corporate banking branch in Bengaluru and three of its executives in response to a suit filed by Lotus Shopping Centres Private Limited, a Mangaluru-based company.

The next hearing is on October 27. In the interim application, the plaintiff company, which claims to have been set up with the object of setting up shopping malls in the name of Lotus Shopping Centres, has sought attachment of all assets of the bank, including all its movable assets such as furniture, fixtures, computers and vehicles in the corporate office in Bengaluru.

In addition to seeking Rs 101.77 crore as damages together with interest, the plaintiff also sought for a declaration with regard to the conduct of the bank and its officials as fraudu lent, illegal and contrary to RBI circulars or guidelines in so far as their loan account with respect of their commercial venture in Mangaluru, which got delayed and made them suffer huge losses.

According to the plaintiff company, Axis Bank delayed a decision on the proposal and took its own time in releasing the first tranche of Rs 100 crore in February 2013 though the application was submitted ten months earlier for the Rs 150-crore loan.

The company claimed it had to shell out Rs 54,77 crore as exorbitant interest as it was forced to avail money from two lenders.

The company said the bank and its officials deliberately misled them about further funding, but parallelly worked in such a manner that it wanted to sell the project which included prime land worth not less than Rs 360 crore as a distress sale.

The plaintiff claimed that though the total damages claimed was Rs 128.96 crore, it would restrict it to Rs 101.77 crore.