SRINAGAR, Sept. 23: Jammu and Kashmir Bank unfroze Yateen Foundation’s accounts after a local court gave the organization permission to use the bank accounts at various Bank locations.
The employees of the Bank Corporate Headquarters have been praised by the Chairman of the Foundation, Mohammad Rafiq Lone, for unfreezing their account.
The J&K Yateem Foundation, Srinagar, has been given permission to manage the bank accounts opened at various J&K Bank branches by the 4th Additional District Judge, Srinagar, who is presided over by Gowhar Majid Dalal.
The court further ordered that the bank seek self-attested documents from the Yateem Foundation in order to protect its interests. These documents must include a photograph that is properly identifiable and a declaration from each signatory of the account holder.
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The presiding officer ordered the account holders to present individual guarantees to the court that they will not break any banking laws, maintain correct accounts, and submit quarterly statements to the court. According to the judgment, “They will also submit another undertaking before this court that they will resolve any tax-related issues on their own and at their own expense.”
According to the case’s factual matrix, the bank had no choice but to freeze the accounts after the NGO failed to provide the updated registration, which was required by banking regulations and RBI guidelines because the previous registration was only valid until March 2018.
A legal challenge was filed against the bank’s decision, which led to a declaration that the KYC requirement was illegal in the eyes of the law and that the NGO should be free to use the bank accounts without restriction.
The bank is unsure of who will be authorized to manage the accounts as the Society is not registered, according to the bank’s attorney who is representing it in court, even if there is no explicit order for the freezing of accounts.
The account holder is a registered society, thus their registration cannot be disregarded. However, because their registration has expired, they are no longer on an equal footing. The concerned have not renewed their registration, and since they feel retaliated against for doing so, they have filed a writ case with the high court, according to the court.
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The plaintiff will suffer an irreparable loss that cannot be made up for later, according to the court, who stated that the Society has a prima facie case in their favor at this point that comes from the face of the record.
The court ruled that because society has built up a variety of assets over the course of the service time, its institutions cannot be left to the whims of the bank and will be forced to close if the accounts are denied.
“The court has a responsibility to ensure that the ongoing legal proceedings do not interfere with these systems’ ability to function. As it is not the amount of individual plaintiffs but rather the amount of the public at large, and as a result of disputes between society’s employees, they cannot use the bank as a shield, the court ruled that they cannot be made to lose money or forced to close.
