Telangana High CourtM/S.Dreamland Ventures Pvt.Ltd., Anot vs Union Of India,Scy,Labour, New Delhi, 3 on 25 February, 2022Author:Satish Chandra SharmaBench:Satish Chandra Sharma,Abhinand Kumar ShaviliTHE HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE SATISH CHANDRA SHARMA\n                                 AND\n     THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE ABHINAND KUMAR SHAVILI\n\n\n\nW.P.Nos. 18131 of 2013; 14503, 23930, 26959, 27153, 35105 of 2015;\n15796, 19406, 19467, 43230, 46306 of 2016; 5077, 5104, 5106, 5111,\n5145, 7990, 23558, 24843, 26155, 35292 of 2017; 5243, 20363, 23870,\n     24347, 34803, 41098, 41205, 41259, 44526, 47453 of 2018;\n     17502 of 2019; 22820, 28426, 31945 of 2021; 2439 of 2022;\n                   PIL Nos.193 and 277 of 2015;\n                  W.P(PIL).Nos.17 and 18 of 2016\n\n\nCOMMON ORDER:(Per the Hon'ble the Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma)\n\n\n      Learned Special Counsel for the State of Andhra\n\nPradesh Sri P.Govind Reddy, at the outset, has argued\n\nbefore this Court that the matters relate to Agrigold Farms\n\nEstates India Private Limited, Akshaya Gold Farms Villas\n\nIndia Limited etc.      The companies have received large\n\nnumber of deposits from various depositors and writ\n\npetitions and public interest litigations have been filed\n\nbefore this Court seeking refund of the amounts deposited\n\nby the depositors. He has stated that theAndhra Pradesh\n\nProtection of Depositors of Financial Establishments Act,\n\n1999(for short, "the Act"), takes care of such depositors.2He has straightaway drawn the attention of this Court\n\ntowardsSections 6,9,10and11of the Act.Sections 6,9,10and11of the Act are reproduced as\n\nunder:-"6. Special Court:- (1) For the purpose of this Act,\n     the Government shall, with the concurrence of the Chief\n     Justice of the High Court, by notification, constitute a\n     District and Sessions Court as a Special Court.(2) No Court including a Court constituted under thePresidency Towns Insolvency Act, 1909(Central Act III of\n     1909)          and     theProvincial     Insolvency        Act,\n     1920, (Central Act V of 1920), other than the Special Court\n     shall have Jurisdiction in respect of any matter to which the\n     provisions of this Act apply.(3) Any pending case in any other Court to which the\n     provisions of this Act apply shall stand transferred to the\n     Special Court.(4) The Special Court shall, on an application by the\n     competent authority, pass such order or issue such\n     direction as may be necessary for the equitable distribution\n     among the depositors of the money realised from out of the\n     property attached.9. Security in lieu of attachment:- Any financial\n     establishment or person whose property has been or is\n     about     to    be   attached    under this     Act   may,   at   any\n     time, apply to the Special Court for permission to give\n     security in lieu of such attachment and where the security\n     offered        and   given      is   in   the   opinion      of   the\n     Special Court, satisfactory, and sufficient, it may cancel, the\n     ad-interim order of attachment or, as the case may be,\n     refrain from passing the order of attachment.310. Administration of property attached:- The\n     Special Court may, on the application of any person\n     interested in any property attached under this Act, and after\n     giving the Competent Authority an opportunity of being\n     heard, make such orders as the Special Court considers just\n     and reasonable for ,--(a)     Providing from such of the property attached\n                    as the applicant claims an interest in such\n                    sums as may be reasonably necessary for the\n                    maintenance of the applicant and of his\n                    family, and for expenses connected with the\n                    defence of the applicant where criminal\n                    proceedings have been instituted against him\n                    in the Special Court undersection 5;(b)     Safeguarding so far as may be practicable the\n                    interest of any business affected by the\n                    attachment and particularly by in the interest\n                    of any partners in such business.11. Appeal:- Any person including the Competent\n     Authority, if aggrieved by an order of the Special Court, may\n     appeal to the High Court within thirty days from the date of\n     such order."A statement at bar has been made that a Special\n\nCourt i.e., the Court of Principal District and Sessions\n\nJudge, Eluru, has been constituted for the cases related to\n\nAgrigold Farms Estates India Private Limited, Akshaya\n\nGold Farms Villas India Limited etc., and the matters are\n\npending before the said Court. He has also informed that4the competent authority was also appointed long back in\n\nthe matter. Meaning thereby, all claims in respect of the\n\ndepositors are to be adjudicated by the Special Court\n\nconstituted for the purpose.Learned Senior Counsel Sri P.B.Vijay Kumar has\n\nstated before this Court that various orders have been\n\npassed in the present cases and other connected matters\n\nfrom time to time and the Special Court be directed to\n\nconsider those orders also while passing orders in respect\n\nof disbursement of amount. Not only this, he has stated\n\nthat an amount of Rs.50,42,70,521/- is lying with the\n\nRegistry of this Court and therefore, the amount be\n\ntransferred to the Special Court for distribution of the\n\nsame to the depositors.After hearing the learned counsel for the parties in\n\nthe present matters, this Court is of the opinion that it is\n\nthe Special Court which is having jurisdiction to make\n\nequitable distribution of the money realised, out of the\n\nproperty attached, among the depositors.Therefore, the amount of Rs.50,42,70,521/- along\n\nwith the accrued interest be transferred to the Special5Court constituted for the purpose. The petitioners before\n\nthis Court as well as all other depositors shall be free to file\n\nappropriate applications in respect of their claims before\n\nthe Special Court by furnishing all minute details and the\n\nSpecial Court shall proceed ahead in accordance with law\n\nkeeping in view the statutory provisions as contained in the\n\nAct.It has been brought to the notice of this Court that in\n\nsome of the cases the petitioners are Banks.          The said\n\nBanks shall also be certainly free to file an application\n\nbefore the Special Court.It has further been brought to the notice of this Court\n\nthat there are two writ petitions i.e., W.P.Nos.23870 and\n\n24347 of 2018 filed by the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited\n\n(BSNL).    The BSNL shall also be free to approach the\n\nSpecial Court or avail any other remedy available under the\n\nlaw.It has also been brought to the notice of this Court\n\nthat certain properties are sold on account of the order\n\npassed by this Court.     Therefore, the Special Court shall6now be free to proceed ahead in accordance with law in\n\nrespect of those properties also.Resultantly, all the writ petitions and the public\n\ninterest litigations are accordingly disposed of.The miscellaneous applications pending, if any, shall\n\nstand closed. There shall be no order as to costs.The Registry is directed to furnish the complete\n\nproceedings in respect of all the writ petitions and the\n\npublic interest litigations to the Special Court.______________________________________\n                              SATISH CHANDRA SHARMA, CJ\n\n\n\n\n                            ______________________________________\n                               ABHINAND KUMAR SHAVILI, J\n\n\n25.02.2022\nvs