A.H. Joshi, J.@mdashRule. Rule is made returnable forthwith with consent of parties.
2. Petitioner, who is depositor of respondent No. 1 Bank, wants his entire deposits with the respondent No. 1 bank to be refunded or at least interest to be paid regularly. His claim for refund is based on his health problem and education of his son/grand children. He has placed on record a medical certificate and assessment of expenditure which is at page 9 which is dated 27.08.2006 certified by Dr. Sanjay Jain, M.D. (Medicine).
3. It has come on record that the Respondent No. 2 has already allowed respondent No. 1 to permit the petitioner to withdraw a sum of Rs. One Lac in total.
4. We find from guidelines framed by Reserve Bank of India that withdrawal can be allowed in certain special circumstances, copy whereof is placed on record by respondent No. 2 at Annexure-B, which are quoted below for ready reference:
3. Several representations have been received from various quarters to have a system to handle such requests expeditiously so that delays are avoided and hardships attended to with promptitude. The matter has been examined and it has been decided that the procedure detailed below should be followed in such cases:
i) A depositor may be allowed to withdraw not more than Rs. 1 lakh on medical ground and Rs. 50,000/-in other cases from the date the directions are imposed till the bank is either taken into liquidation or the directions are withdrawn.
ii) Withdrawals as above may be permitted for various purposes as under:
a) Medical treatment of self, spouse and children, parents upto the actual estimated amounts, bills produced.
b) Education of self or children upto actual fees required to be paid as evidenced by letters from university/ College, etc.
c) Marriage of self, children, brother, sister subject to production of evidence such as invitation cards, hall booking receipts etc.
d) Other grounds of hardship like livelihood.
iii) Regional Offices are empowered to permit withdrawals up to the limits and for the purposes indicated at (i) and (ii) above. The powers will be exercised by a three member committee headed by the Regional Director and having two other senior officers as members. The requests should be properly examined to ensure that withdrawal is permitted only in really needy cases.
iv) The banks under Directions should be advised to obtain an application, as per the enclosed format from the depositor. The present procedure of requests being referred to RBI through a Screening Committee in the bank will continue. As far as possible, payment for medical purpose and educational purpose should be made directly to the concerned Hospital and Educational Institution respectively.
v) The banks should be advised to forward the applications to RBI with their recommendations without delay.
5. According to the Advocate for Respondent No. 4 any more withdrawal cannot be allowed under clause (i) of para No. 3 quoted above.
6. We see that a depositor can be allowed to withdraw a sum not more than Rs. One Lac on medical ground and Rs. Fifty Thousand in other cases and these sums is mutually exclusive. This withdrawal is, however, subject to certain conditions narrated above. We find that it would not be permissible to direct respondents to refund the entire amount, since it would prejudice other depositors who are similarly situated and who are not before the Court and there is nothing on record to reveal hardship they may be suffering.
7. In this background, we direct that the petitioner shall submit an application to Respondent No. 1, within one week, demanding additional amount, for which he has moved this petition, towards legal claim for medical expenses, and respondent No. 2 shall furnish proposal for permitting withdrawal to the Reserve Bank of India, within thirty days thereafter. Respondent No. 2, shall thereafter, decide petitioner''s request for withdrawal according to law and within compass of guidelines, however, sympathetically consider it in the gravity of medical reason.
8. With these directions, the petition is disposed of.
