Pune Debt Recovery Tribunal Officer S Ravinder Yadad on Monday ordered the attachment of the Maharashtra government's two treasury accounts held with the Reserve Bank of India and the State Bank of India.

He also order the attachment of immovable properties -- the central building, the collector's office and the council hall in Pune -- to recover Rs 81.67 crore (Rs 816.7 million) taken from IFCI and the Industrial Development Bank of India by six spinning mills. The loans were backed by a state government guarantee.

The tribunal has ordered the attachment of the RBI account number 6102002003 of the deputy inspector-general of registration and deputy controller of stamps and collectors (Mumbai) and the SBI account number 20300163 of the administrative officer, joint registrar (Mumbai).

"Let the notices in the prescribed form be issued and served on the RBI, Mumbai, and the branch manager of the SBI, respectively. Both officers are directed not to allow any withdrawal transactions in any form from the aforesaid accounts. The officers are further directed to immediately inform the tribunal about the amount being deposited in these accounts every day till further directions," the order stated.

The six defaulting co-operative spinning mills are: Vasant Dada Co-operative Spinning Mill, Maharashtra Co-operative Spinning Mill, Vir Jagderao Cotton Utpadak SSG Ltd, Baramati Co-operative Spinning Mill, Solapur Vikas SSG and Renuka Adivasi Co-operative Spinning Mill.

The suit was filed before the tribunal by IFCI, IDBI and ICICI Bank for the recovery of Rs 90.56 crore (Rs 905.6 million), of which ICICI's share of outstandings was settled by the state government on December 31, 2002, through a full and final settlement of Rs 25 crore (Rs 250 million) for which litigation was going on at various tribunals in the state.

"Yesterday's order was passed by the Pune tribunal's recovery officer for the balance of Rs 81.67 crore (Rs 816.7 million) owed to IDBI and IFCI by the six spinning mills," said IFCI council Nasima Don-Theba.

The recovery officer rejected the contention of state government counsel P C Kansara, who submitted that the valuation of the mortgaged properties by the institutions was faulty.

The officer's order said: "Having perused the entire case record and the deed of guarantees executed by the state government in all the six recovery proceedings, and considering the rival contentions of both parties, the contentions raised on behalf of the state government lack merit and are liable to be rejected."

The recovery officer added that from the recovery certificate issued by the presiding officer of the tribunal, it was found that the Maharashtra government was liable along with the six spinning mills.

"Further, it is clear that the state government executed an unconditional and irrevocable 100 per cent default deed of guarantee in favour of the financial institutions," he said.