Case: PUNJAB NATIONAL BANK &amp; ORS Vs. ATMANAND SINGH &amp; ORS.

as it can be made applicable. The words as far as it can be made applicable make it clear that, in applying the various provisions of the Code to proceedings other than those of a suit, the court must take into account the nature of those proceedings and the relief sought. The object of Article 226 is to provide a quick and inexpensive remedy to aggrieved parties. Power has consequently been vested in the High Courts to issue to any person or authority, including in appropriate cases any government, within the jurisdiction of the High Court, orders or writs, including writs in the nature of habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, quo warranto and certiorari. It is plain that if the procedure of a suit had also to be adhered to in the case of writ petitions, the entire purpose of having a quick and inexpensive remedy would be defeated. A writ petition under Article 226, it needs to be emphasised, is essentially different from a suit and it would be incorrect to assimilate and incorporate the procedure of a suit into the proceedings of a petition under Article 226. The High Court is not deprived of its jurisdiction to entertain a petition under Article 226 merely because in considering the petitioners right of relief, questions of fact may fall to be determined. In a petition under Article 226 the High Court has jurisdiction to try issues both of fact and law. Exercise of the jurisdiction is no doubt discretionary, but the discretion must be exercised on sound judicial principles. When the petition raises complex questions of fact, which may for their determination require oral evidence to be taken, and on that account the High Court is of the view that the dispute should not appropriately be tried in a writ petition, the High Court may decline to try a petition (see Gunwant Kaur v. Bhatinda Municipality [(1969) 3 SCC 769] . If, however, on consideration of the nature of the controversy, the High Court decides, as in the present case, that it should go into a disputed question of fact and the discretion exercised by the High Court appears to be sound and in conformity with judicial principles, this Court would not interfere in appeal with the order made by the High Court in this respect. (emphasis supplied) This decision has noticed Smt. Gunwant Kaur (supra), which had unmistakably held that when the petition raises complex questions of facts, the High Court may decline to try a petition. It is further observed that if on consideration of the nature of the controversy, the High Court decides to go into the disputed questions of fact, it would be free to do so on sound judicial principles. Despite the factual matrix in the present case, the High Court not only ventured to entertain the writ petition, but dealt with the same in a casual manner without adjudicating the disputed questions of fact by taking into account all aspects of the matter. The manner in which the Court disposed of the writ petition, by no stretch of imagination, can qualify the test of discretion having been exercised on sound judicial principles. 19. In Hyderabad Commercials (supra), on which reliance has been placed, it is clear from paragraph 4 of the said decision that the Bank had admitted its mistake and liability, but took a specious plea about the manner in which the transfer was effected. On that stand, the Court proceeded to grant relief to the appellant therein, the account holder. In the present case, however, the concerned officials of the Bank have denied of being party to the stated agreement and have expressly asserted that the said document is forged and fabricated. It is neither a case of admitted liability nor to proceed against the appellant Bank on the basis of indisputable facts. 20. Even the decision in ABL International Ltd. (supra) will be of no avail to the respondent No. 1. This decision has referred to all the earlier decisions and in paragraph 28, the Court observed as follows: - 28. However, while entertaining an objection as to the maintainability of a writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the court should bear in mind the fact that the power to issue prerogative writs under Article 226 of the Constitution is plenary in nature and is not limited by any other provisions of the Constitution. The High Court having regard to the facts of the case, has a discretion to entertain or not to entertain a writ petition. The Court has imposed upon itself certain restrictions in the exercise of this power. (See Whirlpool Corpn. v. Registrar of Trade Marks [(1998) 8 SCC 1]) And this plenary right of the High Court to issue a prerogative writ will not normally be exercised by the Court to the exclusion of other available remedies unless such action of the State or its instrumentality is arbitrary and unreasonable so as to violate the constitutional mandate of Article 14 or for other valid and legitimate reasons, for which the Court thinks it necessary to exercise the said jurisdiction. (emphasis supplied) 21. For the view that we have taken, it is not necessary for us to dilate on the decisions of this Court in Bhinka (supra) and Kaliya (supra), which have dealt with the efficacy and admissibility of certified copies of the relevant documents. Be it noted that these decisions are in reference to the suit/trial in the concerned case, where the documents are required to be proved by the party relying upon it by examining competent witnesses to prove the existence thereof and also their contents. 22. A priori, we have no hesitation in taking the view that in the facts of the present case, the High Court should have been loath to entertain the writ petition filed by the respondent No. 1 and should have relegated the respondent No. 1 to appropriate remedy for adjudication of all contentious issues between the parties.

Court's decision (1 = petition accepted / positive for appellant, 0 = rejected / negative): 1

Reasoning from the judgment:
1[ds]11. From the factual matrix highlighted hitherto, it is manifest that there is no unanimity between the appellant-Bank and the respondent No. 1 on the relevant facts, on the basis of which the relief sought in the writ petition was founded. The Bank had expressly denied the existence of the alleged agreement dated 27.5.1990 including the fact that the respondent No. 1 had deposited the amount of Rs.14,93,000/- (Rupees fourteen lakhs ninety-three thousand only). The Bank had relied upon the affidavits of the concerned Bank officials, and also on the report of the District Magistrate referred to in his affidavit dated 5.5.2016 filed before the Division Bench of the High Court in compliance of its order dated 18.3.2016. The Bank had categorically denied the case set up by the respondent No. 1 in the writ petition in toto; and moreso the stand taken by the Bank could be substantiated on the preponderance of probabilities. In other words, the case set up by the respondent No. 1 in the writ petition is neither an admitted position nor is it possible to even remotely suggest that it is indisputable, so as to bind the appellant-Bank on that basis. Moreover, from the narration of facts, it is more than clear that it would involve scrutiny of complex matters and issues including about the existence of the very agreement, which is the foundational evidence for seeking relief as prayed in the writ petition. In that, the genuineness and existence of the stated agreement has been put in issue by the appellant-Bank and which is made good on the basis of affidavits of concerned Bank officials and even supported by the report of the District Magistrate referred to in his affidavit dated 5.5.201612. Notably, the respondent No. 1 had filed similar writ petition against another bank in the year 1995, which came to be rejected as the facts stated therein were also disputed by that bank. In the present case, however, the learned single Judge was impressed by the specious fact that the respondent No. 1 had produced plethora of documents and thus assumed that the appellant bank wanted to wriggle out of the ticklish situation by raising technical objection of maintainability of the writ application. This observation of the learned single Judge is nothing short of being based on surmises and conjectures. The matter such as the present one, could not be decided on the basis of some inference or a feeling gathered by the Court as noted in the impugned judgments. The hard facts on record clearly suggested that the appellant-Bank had supported its plea by relying on affidavits of the concerned Bank officials including the report of the District Magistrate. The learned single Judge very conveniently ignored that aspect and proceeded to hold that the appellant-Bank was suffering from selective amnesia, having noted that voluminous documents are relied upon by the respondent No. 1 (writ petitioner) and thus assumed that the same could not be created or manufactured13. Be that as it may, the learned single Judge without analysing the entirety of the stand of the appellant and the relevant documents, proceeded to make observations about the conduct of the appellant-Bank, which was certainly avoidable. We say so because, the High Court could not have assumed that the documents produced by the respondent No. 1 (writ petitioner) are genuine and admissible, despite the express denial by the appellant-Bank and its officials on affidavit about being party to the said agreement as alleged. If one reads the stated agreement, it is in the nature of an order passed by some authority, running into almost 20 closely typed pages, recording the stand taken by the parties in the form of an agreement between them. From the terms stated therein, it is unfathomable as to how the Bank would agree to such onerous terms. Concededly, no policy document or authorisation of the signatory of the Bank has been produced which would indicate that such an agreement could be reached by the Bank with the respondent No. 114. Be it noted that on one hand, the case made out by the respondent No. 1 is that he had sold his family gold and the sale proceeds received were deposited in the concerned Branch of the appellant Bank for withdrawal, as the amount was required by him for meeting medical expenses of his ailing son suffering from cancer. At the same time, vide alleged agreement, the respondent No. 1 conveniently agrees to invest the amount for seven (7) years, which circumstance also raises serious doubt about the genuineness of the document. We do not wish to elaborate on the terms set out in the subject agreement except to observe that the plea taken by the appellant-Bank about genuineness of the document is debatable (triable) and is not a case of admitted position or indisputable fact, so as to proceed against the appellant-Bank by directing payment of the amount claimed by the respondent No. 1 (writ petitioner), on the basis of such an agreement15. The judgment of the learned single Judge has completely glossed over these crucial aspects and the writ petition has been disposed of in a very casual manner. The Division Bench of the High Court committed the same error in upholding the decision of the learned single Judge. The Division Bench has not even analysed the efficacy of the affidavits filed in support of the stand taken by the appellant-Bank during the pendency of the LPA. It merely reiterates the view taken by the learned single Judge in just two short paragraphs reproduced in paragraph 6 above. It has not analysed the efficacy of the proceedings in Misc. Case No. 04 (DW1) PNB/1989-90, as well as, the certified copy of the proceedings filed in appeal before it, in the context of affidavits of Bank officials and report of the District Magistrate. The Division Bench was also misled by the voluminous documents relied upon by the respondent No. 1 and assumed that the same could not be a figment of imagination or a piece of fiction16. Even if the impugned judgments were to be read as a whole, there is no analysis of the relevant documents and in particular, the stand taken by the appellant-Bank expressly denying the existence of the stated agreement and genuineness thereof, which plea was reinforced from the affidavits of the concerned Bank officials and the report of the District Magistrate. Notably, the District Magistrate in the affidavit filed in compliance of the order dated 18.3.2016 had clearly denied the existence of the stated proceedings for want of contemporaneous official record in that regard. This aspect has not been taken into account by the High Court at all. On facts, therefore, the High Court committed manifest error in disregarding the core jurisdictional issue that the matter on hand involved complex factual aspects, which could not be adjudicated in exercise of writ jurisdictionWe restate the above position that when the petition raises questions of fact of complex nature, such as in the present case, which may for their determination require oral and documentary evidence to be produced and proved by the concerned party and also because the relief sought is merely for ordering a refund of money, the High Court should be loath in entertaining such writ petition and instead must relegate the parties to remedy of a civil suit. Had it been a case where material facts referred to in the writ petition are admitted facts or indisputable facts, the High Court may be justified in examining the claim of the writ petitioner on its own merits in accordance with lawIt is neither a case of admitted liability nor to proceed against the appellant Bank on the basis of indisputable facts21. For the view that we have taken, it is not necessary for us to dilate on the decisions of this Court in Bhinka (supra) and Kaliya (supra), which have dealt with the efficacy and admissibility of certified copies of the relevant documents. Be it noted that these decisions are in reference to the suit/trial in the concerned case, where the documents are required to be proved by the party relying upon it by examining competent witnesses to prove the existence thereof and also their contents22. A priori, we have no hesitation in taking the view that in the facts of the present case, the High Court should have been loath to entertain the writ petition filed by the respondent No. 1 and should have relegated the respondent No. 1 to appropriate remedy for adjudication of all contentious issues between the parties.