TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2026 (8) TMI 1754
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....ers:- "W.P.(C) 6435/2026 a) Allow the present Petition; b) Pass a writ of certiorari any other appropriate writs/ orders quashing the actions of the Respondent bank and order/ directions be passed for de-freezing the current account bearing number 00910200002461 of the Petitioner maintained with Respondent Bank i.e Bank of Baroda at Bara Tooti, Sadar Bazar, New Delhi- 110006. c) Direct the Respondent Bank to allow the Petitioner to operate the current account as per normal banking rules. ... W.P.(C) 6436/2026 a) Allow the present Petition; b) Pass a writ of certiorari any other appropriate writs/ orders quashing the actions of the Respondent bank and order/ directions be passed ....
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....f Money Laundering Act, 2002 ("PMLA") to state that the respondent in a case of money laundering has the right to restrict specified transactions to be carried out. 8. He also relies on paragraph 14 of the counter affidavit which reads as under:- "(14) The bank may use the services of Business Correspondent (BC) for this process. 25. Accounts opened using Aadhaar OTP based e-KYC, in non-face-to-face mode, are subject to the following conditions: (1) The Customer shall give specific consent for the authentication through OTP. (2) As a risk-mitigating measure for such accounts, the bank shall ensure that it sends transaction alerts, OTP, etc., only to the mobile number of the customer registered with Aad....
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....ll be opened using OTP based KYC in non-face-to-face mode with any other RE. Further, while uploading KYC information to CKYCR, bank shall clearly indicate that such accounts are opened using OTP based e-KYC and other REs shall not open accounts based on the KYC information of accounts opened with OTP based e-KYC procedure in non-face-to-face mode. (9) The bank shall have strict monitoring procedures including systems to generate alerts in case of any non-compliance / violation, to ensure compliance with the above-mentioned conditions." 9. I am unable to agree with any of the contentions of the learned standing counsel for the respondent. 10. In my view, the respondent Bank is merely the custodian of the funds lying in the ac....
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....2) comes into play only when certain conditions as mentioned in 12AA(1) is not fulfilled. Further, it only says that the Bank would not allow the specified transaction to be carried out and evidently does not mention of not allowing any transaction or for that matter freezing the account. It should be well understood that under the provisions of Section 12 merely a duty is cast on the Bank as a reporting entity to maintain records and at time may not permit a particular (specified) transaction only, because the freezing of Bank Account is always under Section 17 of the Act and that too by the Competent Authority, after the twin test of (i) information being in possession and (ii) reasons to believe, is satisfied to the core. Further, this C....