Page 18 - BANKING FINANCE OCTOBER 2021

LEGAL UPDATE

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Employee can challenge job itself," said a bench of justices U U Now, in another case, Hemraj
Lalit and Ajay Rastogi. Ratnakar Salian Vs HDFC Bank, it ap-
terms of service in some
It said that submissions of the pears that the borrowers tried to pre-
cases, says SC university's counsel that the petition- vent the bank from taking possession
An employer is always in a "dominat- ers had accepted the terms and con- of a building by bringing in a 'tenant'
ing position" but it is open for the ditions contained in the letter of ap- (Hemraj Ratnakar). It did not work out
employee to challenge the terms and pointment deserves rejection for the for them.
conditions of service if it is not in con- reason that it is "not open" for a per- Supreme Court judges, S Abdul Nazeer
formity with the statutory require- son appointed in public employment to
ment under the law, the Supreme ordinary choose the terms and condi- and Krishna Murari, have viewed
Court said. tions of which he is required to serve. Ratnakar's claim with suspicion, noting
that "there is a serious doubt as to the
The top court made the remarks in its bona fide of the tenant, as there is no
judgment while setting aside the Au- Rights of tenant cannot be
gust 2013 verdict of the Uttarakhand compromised under good or sufficient evidence to establish
High Court which had dismissed the the tenancy."
plea filed by teachers of department of SARFAESI Act proceedings In any case, the ploy tripped over a
pharmaceutical sciences of a university If a bank has lent against the security point of law. The Supreme Court said,
questioning the process of holding of a building, and if the loan becomes citing previous judgments, if a tenant
open selection pursuant to an August an NPA, then the bank can take pos- claims entitlement to the possession of
2011 advertisement and also the al- session of the building under the a property for over a year, his claim has
leged arbitrary conditions incorpo- SARFAESI Act. However, there is a big to be supported by the execution of a
rated in their appointment order. 'but'. registered instrument. If there is none,
"It goes without saying that employer But if the building is occupied by a ten- and the tenant relies on an unregis-
is always in a dominating position and ant who has been paying rent, the tered instrument or an oral agree-
it is open to the employer to dictate tenancy cannot be disturbed by the ment - sorry!
the terms of employment. The em- bank, by taking possession of the build-
ployee who is at the receiving end can ing. In the case of Bajrang In the Hemraj Ratnakar Vs HDFC Bank
case, all that the 'tenant' could pro-
hardly complain of arbitrariness in the Shyamsunder Agarwal Vs Central Bank
duce was some xerox copies of rent
terms and conditions of employment. of India, a 3-member bench of the Su-
This court can take judicial notice of the preme Court had held that "the rights receipts. Also, the borrowers never
fact that if an employee takes initiation of a rightful tenant cannot be compro- claimed there was a tenant. "There-
in questioning the terms and conditions mised under the SARFAESI Act pro- fore, he is not entitled to any protec-
of employment, that would cost his/her ceedings." tion of the rent," the verdict said. T

18 | 2021 | OCTOBER | BANKING FINANCE