Lahore: LHC stops bank from repossessing leased cars without court order

[Naveed Yaseen]

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday restrained a bank from re-possessing two cars leased to the petitioner company without the court’s orders.

Petitioner’s counsel, Shahid Siddiqui, submitted the petitioner had leased four cars from a local bank. He said the bank reversed the lease of two cars under Section 16 of the Financial Institutions Ordinance, 2001 on the plea that installments had not been paid.

The counsel asserted this was illegal, as the bank could not re-possess the vehicles without obtaining an order from the banking court.

He said such a repossession of vehicles was difficult to differentiate from an attempted robbery. He quoted two incidents in Islamabad, where the driver of the vehicle shot the bank representative, on the pretext that robbers were trying to snatch his vehicle. He said this practice of the banks should be immediately stopped, adding that they must obtain an order from the banking court prior to repossessing the vehicles.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...009_pg13_5