Justice Karnan Stirs Another Flutter on Naming of Judges

By T S Sekaran - CHENNAI The New Indian Express

Published: 18th January 2014 07:43 AM

Last Updated: 18th January 2014 08:32 AM

Justice C S Karnan of the Madras High Court, who is known for controversies, created yet another flutter on Friday by accusing the Madras High Court collegium, which recommended 12 names for appointment as judges to the High Court in December last year, of committing “irregularities” in the process.

In a statement appearing to be an affidavit filed in the filing section of the High Court in response to a public interest writ petition from senior advocate R Gandhi last week, Justice Karnan appealed to the President of India to appoint a ‘honest high-level committee’ consisting of one retired judge each from the Supreme Court and the Madras HC, two retired IAS officers and an IPS officer to look into “irregularities” in the High Court administration. Naming some judges, he said such irregularities could even result in their impeachment.

“Further, the irregularity statements will be included in the unfair selection list of judges, which is the subject matter of this writ petition. My suggestions are not a mere submission but based on documentary evidence available with the Registry...,” he said.

When the proceedings were on, on the PIL from Gandhi, Justice Karnan had stormed into the court of Justice Dhanapalan on January 8 and alleged that the selection was improper. He also told the judge that he was a part of judiciary and he would file an affidavit.

But the ‘statement’ issued on January 10 was not an affidavit, even though it had the format of an affidavit. It began with the words “suggestions of justice Karnan in the interest of justice and public confidence to maintain and control the high irregularities and also to rectify the transgressions”. He also served a copy of the same to Gandhi and another one to the filing section.

On Friday too, he ‘issued’ a similar ‘statement’ beginning with the words “additional suggestions of Justice Karnan...”.

He said that it was imperative to convene a meeting with the office-bearers of the various Bar associations, including Gandhi and his counsel S Prabakaran. After that a Full Court meeting should be convened to seek the views of the judges. Thereafter the Collegium may prepare another list. Till such time the present disputed list may be recalled.

“I am totally in concurrence with the stand taken by the Bar members. Therefore, it could be construed that the cordial relationship between the brother judges and myself is not of paramount importance but the requirement should be the smooth running of the courts and public confidence maintained at all times,” he said and added that his entry into the court enabled him to disclose the violations in the selection of judges. The intention was to initiate discussions on such irregularities, which is not based on child-ego, but based on a serious grip of the ground situation on hand, he added.

News Gross NPAs of banks to touch 5% by March-end: Study -

IRIS :17-JAN-2014

Indian banking sector, which has witnessed an upsurge in non-performing assets for past three years, could see further deterioration with gross NPAs expected to touch 5% by the end of March 2014, according to the Assocham latest study.

''Sluggish economic growth and high interest rates are being touted as primary drivers for rising bad loans and if the economic scenario continues there is no doubt that asset quality would suffer further'', adds the Assocham study.

Other factors like delays in obtaining statutory and other approvals as well as lax credit appraisal and complacency in monitoring by banks were also significantly responsible for deteriorating asset quality. The asset quality of banks has deteriorated in the aftermath global economic crisis of 2008.

Releasing the study here today, the Assocham spokesperson said, gross NPA of the public sector banks were Rs 413.78 billion in March 2006, which came down to Rs 383.05 billion in March 2007 because of better economic environment. However, it has shown an upward trend since March 2008.

The ratio of gross NPA to advances for banks increased significantly, from 2.36% in March 2011 to 3.92% in June 2013. Public sector banks account for a disproportionate share of this increase. However, private sector banks especially new generation banks are performing much better by managing their NPA ratio in this difficult climate.

At the same time, restructured standard assets as a percentage of total credit more than doubled, from 2.6% in December 2010 to 6.1% in June 2013, points out the study.

As of September 2013, banks together approved Corporate Debt Restructuring (CDR) worth Rs 2.72 lakh crore out of Rs 3.62 lakh crore that came for restructuring.

Iron & steel and infrastructure sectors are the largest contributor to NPAs of the public sector banks. Besides, aviation, textiles and mining are also adding to the stressed assets, highlights the Assocham.

These five sectors together contribute around 24% of total advances of all banks, and account for around 51% of their total stressed advances at the end of September, 2013.

The chamber paper has pointed out that with continued slowdown in the industrial growth, pick-up in activity in infrastructure and iron & steel sector is expected to be delayed. Since concentration of distressed assets is higher in these sectors asset quality deterioration in banks is set to worsen.

Industrial production entered the negative territory after three months, contracting by 1.8% in October, 2013 mainly on account of poor performance of the manufacturing sector. It further contracted to six months low of 2.1% in November.

Factory output, as measured in terms of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), grew by 8.4% in October last year, adds the Assocham.

HC admits 2nd winding-up petition against KFA

 B S Antonita Madonna  |  Bangalore  January 18, 2014 Last Updated at 00:46 IST

At Rs 1,600 crore, SBI has the largest exposure to the grounded carrier among banks


After United Breweries Holdings Limited (UBHL), a second winding-up petition has been admitted in the high court here against Vijay Mallya’s grounded carrier Kingfisher Airlines Limited (KFA).

Ananda Byrareddy admitted the petition by a consortium of banks, led by the State Bank of India (SBI) on Friday, a  month after a similar petition was admitted from the UK-based engine service provider, Aerotron.

The news comes a day after Mallya had been summoned by the Delhi high court to appear on February 14 in a case by Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) on bounced cheques of Rs 1 crore from Kingfisher. The company said, "We always comply with the law and judicial orders."

Mallya was summoned by the Karnataka high court in September last year on non-payment of dues to creditors, but failed to make an appearance.

Besides DIAL and Bangalore International Airport, Kingfisher has defaulted on loans to the income-tax department, vendors and lessors and several public sector banks. At Rs 1,600 crore, SBI has the largest exposure to the carrier among banks. Aerotron has sued the airline for $6-million (Rs 35 crore) dues.

Noting the airlines had not opposed or responded to valid notices from the creditors claiming the company was commercially insolvent and, hence, unable to pay its dues, the judge on Friday determined the claim of the consortium of banks "bona fide" and prima facie admitted the petition. Kingfisher has total dues of Rs 7,400 crore to its creditors.

Mallya said the company was in talks with an unidentified investor to revive the airline and has repeatedly requested the courts for more time to pay its creditors and employees.  On Friday, the counsel for the airline again requested for additional time to provide details on the progress on the claimed investment into the airline, despite the due-diligence process being completed.

“The entire process has been under cover and nobody knows what is going on. The investor may or may not take this up,” the judge said.

The court has directed the company to provide an update on the matter by March 7, failing which an advertisement would be published in newspapers detailing the admittance of the wind-up petition. Following the publication, other creditors to the airline can approach the court staking their claims to dues from the airline.


Two similar petitions have been admitted by the court against UBHL, filed by BNP Paribas and Avions de Transport Regional, part of a group of five lenders fighting for dues of Rs 600 crore.

Deccan Chronicle fails to furnish security to DRT

TNN Jan 16, 2014, 03.56AM IST

HYDERABAD: The debt ridden Deccan Chronicle Holdings Ltd (DCHL) has failed to furnish the required surety before the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) that will prevent its mortgaged aircraft from being auctioned by its lender ICICI Bank. After failing to meet the January 9 deadline fixed by the tribunal to furnish sufficient surety, DCHL has told the tribunal that it had challenged the DRT order in the AP high court and sought a stay on further proceedings.

It can be recalled the tribunal had earlier directed DCHL to furnish sufficient security before January 9, 2014, failing which the Hawker aircraft belonging to its sister concern Flyington Freightors' Pvt Ltd will be auctioned to clear the dues pertaining to one of the loans it availed from ICICI Bank. The bank, which is now waging a legal battle to recover Rs 500 crore dues from DCHL, has also filed a separate petition seeking recovery of Rs.10 crore dues pertaining to the loan the company availed in 2007 through mortgage of the aircraft. ICICI is now seeking permission to sell the aircraft.

The tribunal, in its previous order, gave a last chance to DCHL and directed it to furnish an unencumbered security in order to save the aircraft from being sold. The tribunal also made it clear that it will appoint a receiver to effect the sale of the aircraft if DCHL fails to furnish the surety by the stipulated date. The company, however, failed to comply with this order and instead, the DCHL counsel sought more time from the tribunal. This was opposed by ICICI Bank counsel Sriharsha Reddy, who said the tribunal cannot review its order and sought permission from it to go ahead with the auction of the aircraft. The tribunal posted the matter to January 16 for hearing.

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