Srinagar- The High Court of J&K and Ladakh on Monday dismissed a petition challenging Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act (SARFAESI) proceedings, and imposed Rs one lakh costs on the petitioner for“repeatedly abusing” the legal process.

A Division Bench of Justice Sanjeev Kumar and Justice Sanjay Parihar was hearing a petition filed by one GH Shah of Kupwara, who claimed that his single-storey house was attached and the same was not the property mortgaged as a secured asset.

The Court, however, noted that Shah had a history of filing multiple petitions to stall recovery proceedings initiated after he defaulted on a bank loan. Earlier, Shah had challenged the Bank's action under Section 14 of the SARFAESI Act, but his plea was dismissed in November 2024.

A review petition filed thereafter was dismissed in July this year and imposed Rs 50,000 costs, which Shah has still not deposited.

Observing the repeated attempts to“hoodwink the Court”, the Bench said Shah was now advancing a“false narrative” by claiming mistaken identity of the secured property.

The Bank clarified before the Court that the asset under attachment was a double-storeyed house, which had been properly mortgaged, and not the structure Shah now referred to as situated at other place.

The Bench recorded that Shah had concealed the fact that he owned two separate houses on the two survey numbers, and had deliberately created confusion regarding the secured asset.

“The petitioner, with a view to avoid the repayment of the loan as also to save the secured assets mortgaged with the Bank, has been manipulating the process of law one way or the other,” the Bench said.

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