The Commercial High Court of Colombo has granted permission to Hatton National Bank to sell the iconic Nawaloka Hospital founded by a Sri Lankan entrepreneur genius H.K Dharmadasa. The decision was made due to non-payment of bank loans of nearly 630 million rupees.
That permission comes with the removal of the restraining order issued by the Hatton National Bank preventing the ownership of Nawaloka Hospital from selling the hospital by Colombo Commercial High Court Judge Jagath Kahandagamage.
Pointing out how a restraining order has been issued preventing the sale of Nawaloka Hospital is problematic, the judge of the Colombo Commercial High Court has accepted a request made by Hatton National Bank and removed the related restraining order.
Earlier, the court had considered a petition filed by the hospital ownership against the HNB against the sale of Nawaloka Hospital, which was acquired by Hatton National Bank, and had issued a restraining order preventing the sale of the hospital.
Hatton National Bank filed a counter-argument requesting that the restraining order be lifted. The lawyers appearing for the bank pointed out that the bank loan of nearly 630 million rupees obtained from Hatton National Bank for the construction of the Hospital has not been paid.
The lawyer appearing for the Hatton National Bank told the court that the petitioner Nawaloka Hospital Company had decided to sell the hospital and its related premises and recover the money and interest.
The lawyer also pointed out to the court that his bank had acted by the Special Provisions Act for Recovery of Loans Granted by Banks (Parate Law).
The attorneys representing the Hatton National Bank told the court that it is problematic to issue a restraining order preventing the collection of the loan amount and related interest by selling the relevant property while the bank has acted legally. Therefore, he also requested to remove the relevant prohibitory order.
After considering all the facts presented by both parties, the judge ordered to remove the prohibitory order that had been issued preventing the sale of Nawaloka Hospital.
