BoB’s statement came after it had withdrawn a public notice for e-auction on Monday, just a day after newspaper advertisements for the same, citing “technical reasons.”
BoB said the technical reasons for the withdrawal of the sale notice published on Monday are because the initial notice for sale of the property did not specify the exact quantum of dues to be recovered. Further the property is still not in the possession of the bank and a court application for the same is pending.
“The sale notice was based on a symbolic possession of the property as per Rule 8(6) of The Security Interest (Enforcement) Rules 2002. An application has been made for physical possession by the Bank with the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate on 01st August’2023, which is pending for permission. Since the unit is running as conveyed to us by the borrower, sale action will be initiated as per the provisions of the SARFAESI Act, once the physical possession is taken,” the bank said.
It is unclear as to what is Deol’s offer to settle the bank’s dues. In Sunday’s auction notice the bank had said that there was an outstanding default on a loan of Rs 56 crore, together with accumulated interest and penalties since December 2022.
To recover its dues, BoB had attached Sunny Villa and marked it for auction, with a reserve price set at Rs 51.43 crore and an earnest deposit requirement of Rs 5.14 crore.
The notice said that the loan was guaranteed by Sunny Sounds Pvt Ltd and actor Dharmendra Singh Deol. Both the borrowers and guarantors retain the option to settle the outstanding dues with the bank before any property sale is executed, the notice had said.
Since the notice was published the borrower had approached the bank to settle the dues, accordingly, the sale notice is withdrawn as per the normal industry practice followed in other cases as well, BoB clarified.