Court Orders Release of Attached Bank Accounts, Allows Petitioners to Operate Accounts with Fixed Deposit Receipts

The court directed the release of bank accounts provisionally attached by PAO no. 05 of 2020 in three banks, allowing the petitioners to operate the accounts after securing the available amounts in Fixed Deposit Receipts (FDRs) in their names. The banks were instructed to permit account operations once the amounts were secured, with FDRs not to be released without a court or tribunal order. The petition was disposed of on these terms, enabling the petitioners to access their accounts while ensuring the secured amounts.

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Issues:
Provisional attachment of bank accounts, seeking release of bank accounts, modification of attachment order, permission to operate bank accounts, securing amount in FDRs, direction to banks to permit operation of accounts.

Analysis:
The petitioners in this case sought a direction to release their bank accounts provisionally attached through PAO no. 05 of 2020, maintained in Nobel Cooperative Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and Punjab National Bank. The petitioners expressed readiness to secure the available amounts in these accounts and requested modification of the attachment order to allow them to operate these accounts. Respondent's counsel informed that only the current amounts in the attached accounts were seized and had no objection to allowing the petitioners to operate these accounts while securing the available amounts. Consequently, the three banks, namely Kotak Mahindra Bank, Nobel Cooperative Bank, and Punjab National Bank, were directed to enable the petitioners to operate these accounts, subject to securing the available amounts in Fixed Deposit Receipts (FDRs) in the petitioners' names. The FDRs would not be released to the petitioners unless ordered by a competent court or the Appellate Tribunal, PMLA, where the petitioners' appeal against the attachment order was pending.

The court emphasized that once the amount was secured via FDRs, the banks must allow the petitioners to operate these accounts in the regular course of business. Consequently, the petition was disposed of on these terms.

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