1 2025:CGHC:21298 NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR WPC No. 2424 of 2025 1 - Chandrakant Kannoje S/o Shri Shatrughan Lal Kannoje Aged About 34 Years Presently Posted Teacher, Government Middle School Nimora, Raipur, District - Raipur, Chhattisgarh, R/o Moreshwar Rao Gadre Ward No.-59, Santoshi Nagar, Raipur, District - Raipur, Chhattisgarh 2 - Mahesh Singh Sori S/o Shri Krishna Singh Sori Aged About 54 Years Presently Posted Head Master, Government Primary School, Mundipara Village, District - Sukma, R/o House No.-44, Mastanpara, Ward No.-2, Sukma, District - Sukma, Chhattisgarh 3 - Vipin Kumar Netam S/o Late Shri Sarju Ram Netam Aged About 38 Years Presently Posted Assistant Grade-Ii, Veterinary Services, R/o Quarter G-Type, Dugdhdairy Parisar, Village - Kanhargaon, Tehsil - Bhanupratappur, District - Kanker, Chhattisgarh 4 - Rameshwar Shori S/o Shri Nakchhedu Ram Aged About 51 Years Presently Posted Assistant Teacher, Government Primary School, Palewa Charama, District - Kanker, R/o House No.-96, Thakur Para, Girhola, District - Kanker, Chhattisgarh 5 - Surot Jurri S/o Late Shri Mahra Jurri Aged About 57 Years Presently Panchayat Sachiv, Gram Panchayat Shahwad, Kanker, District - Kanker, R/o Palewa, P.O.- Sahawada, District - Kanker, Chhattisgarh 6 - Dropadi Bhaskar W/o Shri Devendra Bhaskar Aged About 35 Years Presently Working As Assistant Teacher, Government Girls Primary School, Charama, District - Kanker, R/o Bhatapara, Charama, District - Kanker, Chhattisgarh 7 - Narendra Kumar Dhruv S/o Lilar Ram Dhruv Aged About 46 Years Presently Working As O.A.G.-Ii, C.S.P.D.C.L. Somni, Rajnandgaon, YOGESH TIWARI Digitally signed by YOGESH TIWARI Date: 2025.05.13 17:59:45 +0530 2 District - Rajnandgaon, R/o 195/d, Ruwabandha Sector, Bhilai, District - Durg, Chhattisgarh 8 - Nidhi Onten W/o Chhedee Singh Onten Aged About 38 Years Presently Working As Lecturer At Government Ayurved College, Bilaspur, R/o Om Colony, Daldaliha Para, Sakri, Bilaspur, District - Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh 9 - Hemant Kumar Khute S/o Shri B.R. Khute Aged About 52 Years Presently Working As Teacher, Government Upper Primary School Kasahibahara, District - Mahasamund, Chhattisgarh, R/o Lakhagarh, Post - Pithora, District - Mahasamund, Chhattisgarh 10 - Kailash Kumar Kannoje S/o Late Somnath Kannoje Aged About 42 Years Presently Working As Lecturer At Swami Atmanand English Medium School, Sukuldaihan, Block - Rajnandgaon, District - Rajnandgaon, R/o Ward No.-10, Mohala, Near Of Zin Kushal Petrol Pump Mohala, District Mohla-Manpur-Ambagarh Chowki, Chhattisgarh 11 - Mamta Kannoje W/o Shri Kailash Kumar Kannoje Aged About 42 Years Presently Working As Rural Medical Assistant, District Mohla- Manpur-Ambagarh Chowki, Chhattisgarh, R/o Wasadi, Block - Mohala, District Mohla-Manpur-Ambagarh Chowki, Chhattisgarh 12 - Jaleshwar Singh S/o Shri Beer Singh Aged About 33 Years Presently Working As A.M.O. At Ayush Department, Pendra Road, District Gaurela-Pendra-Marwahi, Chhattisgarh, R/o Jogisar, Pendra Road, District Gaurela-Pendra-Marwahi, Chhattisgarh 13 - Tribhuwan Singh S/o Subran Singh Aged About 38 Years Presently Working As Lecturer At Ayush Department, R/o G-01, Anupam Gorgen, G.E. Road, Raipur, Chhattisgarh 14 - Neelam Kannoje W/o Shri Chandrakant Kannoje Aged About 32 Years Presently Working As Head Constable At Home Guard Office, Raipur, Chhattisgarh, R/o Moreshwar Rao Gadre Ward No.-59, Santoshi Nagar, Raipur, District - Raipur, Chhattisgarh 15 - Chhedee Singh Onten S/o Late Shri Ram Singh Onten Aged About 44 Years Presently Working As Lecturer At Government Ayurved 3 College Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, R/o Om Colony, Daldaliha Para, Sakri, Bilaspur, District - Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh ... Petitioners versus 1 - Union Of India Department Of Financial Services, Ministry Of Finance, 3rd Floor, Jeevan Deep Building, Sansad Marg, New Delhi – 110001 2 - State Of Chhattisgarh Through Director, Directorate Of Institutional Finance, Finance Department, Government Of Chhattisgarh, Indravati Bhavan, Naya Raipur (C.G.) 3 - Reserve Bank Of India Through Governor, Reserve Bank Of India, 4th Floor, Amar Building, Sir P.M. Road, Mumbai - 400 001 (M.S.) 4 - Banking Ombudsman Reserve Bank Of India, Regional Office Raipur, Subhashish Parisar, Satya Prem Vihar, Mahadev Ghat Road, Sunder Nagar, District - Raipur, Chhattisgarh 5 - Cholamandalam Investment And Finance Company Limited (C.I.F.C.L.) Having Corporate Office At Chola Crest, C54-55 And Super B-4, Thiru-Vi-Ka Industrial Estate Guindy, Chennai – 600032 6 - Chhattisgarh Rajya Gramin Bank Through Chairman, Corporate Office, Sector-24, Atal Nagar, Naya Raipur, Chhattisgarh 7 - Aditya Birla Capital Limited Having Corporate Office At 18th Floor, Tower-1, One World Centre, Jupiter Mill Compound, 841, Senapati Bapat Marg, Elphinstone Road, Mumbai - 400 013 8 - Axis Bank Limited Having Its Registered Office At Trishul, Opposite Samartheshwan Temple, Ellis Bridge, Ahmedabad – 380006 9 - Piramal Capital And Housing Finance Limited Having Its Registered Office At 601, 6th Floor, Amiti Building, Agastya Corporate Park, Kamani Junction, Opp. Fire Station, L.B.S. Marg, Kurla (W), Mumbai 10 - Yes Bank Limited Having Is Office At Yes Bank Tower, I.F.C. 02, 23rd Floor, Senapati Bopat Marg, Elphinestone (W), Mumbai 400013 11 - Indusind Bank Limited Having Registered Office At Indusind Bank Limited, 2401 Gen. Thimmayya Road (Cantonment), Pune- 411001 4 12 - Icici Bank Limited Having Its Registered Office At I.C.I.C.I. Bank Tower, Near Chakli Circle, Old Padra Road, Vadodara 390007, Gujarat 13 - Paysense Services India Private Limited Having Registered Office At Empressa Building, Fourth Floor, Second Road, Khar West, Mumbai - 400 052, Maharashtra 14 - State Bank Of India Having Registered Office At Corporate Centre, State Bank Bhavan, Madame Cama Road, Nariman Point, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400021 15 - Collector District - Raipur, Chhattisgarh 16 - Collector District - Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh 17 - Collector District - Mahasamund, Chhattisgarh 18 - Collector District Kanker, Chhattisgarh 19 - Collector District - Surguja, Chhattisgarh 20 - Collector District Gaurela Pendra Marwahi, Chhattisgarh 21 - Collector District Mohla-Manpur-Ambagarh Chowki, Chhattisgarh 22 - Collector District - Durg, Chhattisgarh 23 - Collector District - Sukma, Chhattisgarh 24 - Spash Advisor Private Limited Through Its Proprietor Manoj Kumar Pradhan, Having Registered Office At Office No. F.F., 1st Floor, D.M. Plaza, Nalghar Chowk, Chhota Para, Raipur, Chhattisgarh 25 - Spash Advisor Private Limited Through Its Proprietor Manoj Kumar Pradhan, Having Branch Office At Behind Vashundhara City Mall, Near Tulsi Chowk, Gangapur, Ambikapur, Surguja, Chhattisgarh - 497001 ... Respondents (Cause-title taken from Case Information System) For Petitioners : Mr. Dhiraj Kumar Wankhede and Mr. Aniruddh Singh, Advocates For Union of India : Mr. Ramakant Mishra, Deputy Solicitor General For State : Mr. Praveen Das, Deputy Advocate General For Respondent No.6 : Mr. Raj Shengale, Advocate For Respondent No.14 : Mr. Akash Shrivastava, Advocate on behalf of Mr. Anumeh Shrivastava, Advocate 5 Hon’ble Shri Amitendra Kishore Prasad, Judge Order on Board 08.05.2025 1 The present petition has been filed by the petitioners with the following relief(s):- “10.1) The Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to call for the entire records leading to present case for the kind perusal of this Hon'ble Court, 10.2) The Hon'ble Court may further kindly be pleased to restrain the Respondent No. 05 to Respondent No. 14 from taking any coercive action against the Petitioners, 10.3) The Hon'ble Court may further kindly be pleased to direct the Respondent No. 4 (Banking Ombudsman) to initiate enquiry/investigation against the Respondent No. 05 to Respondent No. 14 and their respective officers with respect to their involvement in the illegal disbursement of personal loans to the Petitioners in gross violation of the notification, circular, and guidelines issued by the Respondent No. 3 (Reserve Bank of India), 10.4) The Hon'ble Court may further kindly be pleased to direct the Respondent No. 15 to Respondent No. 23 (State) to take necessary action to recover the amount from the Respondent No. 24/25 as per law, 10.5) Cost of the petition may also be granted to the petitioner. 6 10.6) Any other relief which this Hon'ble Court deems fit and proper may also kindly be granted to the petitioner, in the interest of justice.” 2 By filing the present petition, the petitioners are challenging the illegal and unauthorized action on the part of respondents No.5 to 14, whereby multiple personal loans of exorbitant amount (ranging from Rs 30,00,000/- to Rs.90,00,000/-) have been sanctioned in the name of petitioners without receiving any application from the petitioners themselves. Respondents No.24 and 25 are the Direct Selling Agents of some of the Banks and multiple personal loans were approved and sanctioned by the Banks in the name of petitioners via single OTP with the help of private respondents. The private respondents committed fraud upon the petitioners by convincing the petitioners to invest 50% of loan amount in their personal bank accounts and promised to provide high rate of interest /returns. 3 The challenge is also made against the manner in which the Banks have sanctioned the personal loan of the petitioners in gross violations of the notification, guideline, and circular issued by the Reserve Bank of India (hereinafter referred as 'RBI') titled 'Reset of Floating Interest Rate on Equated Monthly Installments (EMI) based Personal Loans dated 18.08.2023, Guidelines on Fair Practices Code for Lenders dated 05.05.2003 and recent Master Circular on Management of Advances dated 01.04.2025, 7 respectively. The detailed advisory and caution regarding sanctioning of personal loans has been provided by RBI to all the Scheduled Commercial Banks. Regional Rural Banks, Primary Co-operative Banks, State Co-operative Banks, and Non-Banking Financial Companies (including Housing Finance Companies) However, without following the guidelines, notifications, and the circulars the Banks have sanctioned multiple personal loans of exorbitant amount on single OTP without any application from petitioners and after disbursement of sanctioned loan, 50% of amount is transferred to another bank account with the help of private respondents and the officers of Banks. 4 It is admitted fact that the petitioners are members of Schedule Tribe and residents of tribal areas such as Ambikapur, Sarguja, Durg Mahasamund, Rajnandgaon. Raipur, Bilaspur, etc. and some of the petitioners are Teachers and Assistant Professors in their respective Schools and Colleges and they have intentionally targeted the petitioners from tribal areas owing to the fact that they have no knowledge of banking and finance. The collusion between the banks and private respondents is evident from the fact that the 4-5 personal loans sanctioned in the name of the petitioners were disbursed at once within a time frame of 24 hours, even though the One Time Password (OTPs) were fraudulently obtained days/weeks before the date of disbursement. Immediately upon realizing the fraud, the 8 petitioners approached the police authorities lodged FIR bearing Crime No.50/2025 in Police Station Kotwali, District Raipur for the offence under Sections 318(4) and 3(5) of Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 and another FIR dated 08.04.2025 bearing Crime No. 103/2025 was registered in Police Station Kanker, District Kanker for the offence under Section 420, 34, and Section 120-B of Indian Penal Code, 1860. 5 Learned counsel for the petitioners submits that the petitioners have already moved the applications before the Banking Ombudsman, which are pending consideration. He further submits that the petitioners are the victims as the loan has been taken at the instance of the petitioners, however they are having no knowledge about the said loan. It has been contended that the petitioners are low paid employees and they are facing hardship due to the aforesaid act of the Banking employees as well as Companies. In the present petition, the petitioners are seeking only a direction to the Banking Ombudsman to decide the matter in accordance with law. 6 Considering the matter in its entirety, this Court is of the opinion that since the remedy available to the petitioners to file appropriate applications before the Banking Ombudsman, at this stage, it would be appropriate that a direction be given to the petitioners to pursue remedy before the Banking Ombudsman and the concerned Banking Ombudsman, who has receipt the 9 copies of the complaints on 16.04.2025 is directed to consider the case of the petitioners and to pass appropriate orders while considering the matter on merits in accordance with law. 7 In that view of the matter, the petitioners are directed to file appropriate applications for grant of interim relief before respondent No.4 i.e. Banking Ombudsman Reserve Bank of India, Regional Office Raipur, Subhashish Parisar, Satya Prem Vihar, Mahadev Ghat Road, Sunder Nagar, District - Raipur, Chhattisgarh within a period of 15 days and, in turn the Banking Ombudsman concerned is directed to consider the said applications and to pass appropriate orders in accordance with law within a period of 30 days from the date of filing of the applications by the petitioners. 8 Till the applications for interim relief are decided by the Banking Ombudsman, the Banking authorities are directed not to take any coercive steps against the petitioners. 9 With the aforesaid observation/direction, instant petition stands disposed of. Sd/- (Amitendra Kishore Prasad) Judge Yogesh