Our Correspondent
Abohar, March 1
The Municipal Corporation (MC), escorted by the local police, on Monday sealed the internal part of the main office of the State Bank of India, located in the old grain market, as the management failed to comply with the orders passed by the Court of Jaspal Singh Brar, SDM-cum-Collector, under the Punjab Public Premises and Land (Eviction and Rent Recovery) Act-1973 on December 15, 2020.
The MC claimed the SBI had not paid rent arrears of Rs 52.27 lakh, to which interest and penalty worth Rs 27.96 lakh was also payable. The unprecedented action is set to affect other banks also that operate through the clearing house of the SBI.
Allegedly, higher officials of the SBI had not taken the communication from local officials seriously. As the MC team and the police entered the main office, customers were present inside, but they could not do any kind of transaction. Gaurav Aggarwal, chief branch manager, expressed inability to take the responsibility for the unprecedented situation, claiming he had already informed higher officials about the dispute.
Sandeep Kumar, Superintending Engineer of the Municipal Corporation, along with the staff, escorted by the City-1 police team, reached the bank at 11 am. The MC team said since 1982, the bank had a liability of about Rs 1 crore. Notices had been sent to the bank in this regard several times, but no payment was made.
The bank has to pay the increased rent, according to the MC rules, but since 1982, even the rent calculated at Rs 20,000 had not been paid.
The MC had instituted a case under the Public Premises Act on January 16, 2019 in the court of SDM- cum-Collector, which had been decided in favour of the MC on December 15, 2020. A time of one month was given to the bank to hand over the possession of the building, but neither the arrears were paid, nor the building was vacated. The MC today sealed the bank on the orders of the SDM.
The customers and the staff present at the bank were told to move out of the building. The MC team comprised XEN Raman Kumar, SDO Chirag Bansal, Superintendent Ravi Kumar, JE Sagar Soni and Taxation Superintendent Vikram Dhuria.
The SE said the building, built in 1939, had been declared unsafe and was sealed. The MC team agreed to give five rooms to the bank to stack cash and jewellery, and sealed the main gate and the ATM cabin.
Rent arrears unpaid, MC seals SBI office at Abohar
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