The Hyderabad high court on Friday issued a notice to Union minister of state for science and technology, Y S Chowdary, in a contempt case and directed him to respond within two weeks, the Times of India reported.
The court was hearing a case filed by Mauritius Commercial Bank Ltd against the minister and his company, Sujana Universal Industries Ltd for defaulting on loans running into hundreds of crores.
Yalamanchili Satyanarayana Chowdary, popularly known as Sujana Chowdary is one of the richest MPs with assets of about Rs.190 crore and an annual turnover of $3 billion from his company.
The bank had earlier sought liquidation of Sujana Universal Industries, since it was the guarantor for the Rs 92 crore loans given to one of its subsidiary companies. The bank also claimed that the total amount to be repaid was Rs 106 crore plus Rs 70 lakh as a penalty and has already armed itself with a judgment from a London court that ordered the same.
After multiple talks between the bank and the company's counsels failed, the court directed the company to furnish the details of its assets, bank account details.
It was also reported earlier that according to a list published by the All India Bank Employees’ Association (AIBEA) of 400 top bank loan defaulters of India’s state-run banks as on 31 March 2013, both companies in the Sujana group together had defaulted loans worth Rs 920 crore to two public sector banks, Central Bank of India and Bank of India.
The HC has sent notices to all the directors of Sujana Universal Industries Ltd, including Y S Chowdary, and directed them to respond.