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Rockline Construction Company vs Doha Bank QSC & Ors.

Not available · 2023 INSC 420Decided 24 Apr 2023
Not available
Krishna Murari · Sanjay Karol

Background

Rockline Construction had won an auction of a mortgaged property back in 2007, but the sale was later set aside by the Debt Recovery Appellate Tribunal (DRAT), entitling Rockline to a refund of its deposit with interest, after deducting any "mesne profits" (compensation for use of the property in the meantime). This Court had earlier upheld that outcome. Rockline then filed this application asking the Court to fix the exact interest rate on the refund and settle how much should be deducted as mesne profits, since a recovery officer had provisionally fixed a modest 9% interest rate against Rockline's claim for a market commercial rate of around 14.5%.

Decision Breakdown

The Court noted that Rockline is undisputedly entitled to interest on its long-held deposit, but held that the two live issues, the correct rate/terms of interest and the exact mesne profits, are best decided by the specialised appellate tribunal (DRAT) where an appeal on this very point was already pending, rather than by the Supreme Court stepping in. It rejected the bank's argument that Rockline's appeal was time-barred, given the long-running nature of the litigation, and directed the DRAT to decide the pending appeal strictly on merits within two months, with liberty for Rockline to come back to the Supreme Court if needed.

Lesson Learnt

Even after the Supreme Court finally settles a party's basic entitlement (here, to a refund with interest), it will often leave the fact-heavy job of working out the exact amount to the specialised tribunal set up for that purpose, rather than recalculating figures itself: litigants should pursue such calculation disputes in the proper forum rather than expecting the apex court to do the arithmetic.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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