In a major legal development, a Division Bench of the Bombay High Court decided on the Constitutional validity of the Office Memorandums (“OMs”) issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, by which the public sector banks were granted powers to issue Look Out Circulars (“LOC”) to restrain an individual from traveling abroad.
Parinam represented the lead Petitioner among a group of other Petitioners in multiple petitions that were clubbed and heard together.
After considering the arguments advanced by the Petitioner, the Court duly held that the powers conferred upon executive officers of public sector banks to issue LOCs are arbitrary and in contravention of Article 21 read with Article 14 of the Constitution of India. Holding thus, the Court was pleased to quash and set aside all the LOCs issued by the public sector banks in exercise of the powers conferred upon them under the OMs.
