Delhi High Court orders de-freezing of HT Media-owned Shine.com's accounts

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday ordered RBL Bank to unfreeze the account of HT Media-owned job recruitment platform Shine.com [HT Media Ltd v Union of India & Ors]. .Justice Vikas Mahajan passed the order on a plea filed by HT Media alleging that the account was frozen at the instance of the Gujarat police after some people complained of fraud in the name of Shine.com.The Court today noted that there are only two transactions that are disputed. Therefore, it ordered the bank to make a lien of ₹10 lakh and defreeze the account. “It is deemed appropriate to de-freeze the petitioner’s account with further direction to the bank to make a lien on the amount of Rs 10 lakhs (approx). In case the bank receives any complaint in future, the bank shall communicate to the petitioner before taking any adverse actions,” the Court ordered. .HT Media approached the Court, arguing that several fraudsters posing as representatives of Shine.com have been trying to deceive the public by offering fake job opportunities in exchange for money. Based on complaints of defrauded individuals filed on the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP) or at local cyber cell police stations, the bank account of Shine.com has been abruptly frozen a many times even though the allegedly fraud credit entries involve paltry or no amount ranging from ₹0 to ₹20,000, HT Media said. The Court was further told that the RBL Bank, instead of marking a lien on the amount of disputed entries, has repeatedly frozen the accounts due to which the cheques issued by the company were dishonoured, leading to grave hardships to the company.It was further stated that because of the freeze, the company was facing difficulty in paying the salaries of its employees. .Advocate Umag Tyagi appeared for HT Media. RBL was represented by advocate Survi Agarwal.