Much to the embarrassment of union commerce secretary Rahul Khullar, a notice was pasted on the main entrance door of the Udyog Bhawan on Tuesday cancelling his credit card No 4006 6760 1418 5717 for non-payment of outstanding dues of Rs 35,773.50.

The notice was pasted by a senior officer of the State Bank of India on Tuesday after he was not allowed to meet Khullar to deliver him the notice letter personally because it concerned a very senior IAS officer of the government of India and because Khullar's office had refuse to receive it twice before.

Had it been an ordinary customer, the bank would have dashed off the letter through a courier agency. But the spurned bank officer got visibly angry  when the reception refused to entertain his repeated pleas that it was an important document that had to be hand-delivered to the secretary.

The reception officer told him he was helpless since he cannot issue the entry pass after the secretary's assistant directed that the visitor be told to leave the document at the reception counter since he has no appointment.

Anybody wanting to meet a minister or an official in any government office has to take a prior appointment and is allowed entry only after the reception confirms from the staff of the minister or the official if the visitor can meet him.

Since the letter was to be delivered personally, it was in an unsealed envelop. The bank officer left it at the reception counter and pasted a copy of it on the main entrance door as per the bank practice in case of a defaulter refusing to take the letter or acknowledging it.

The SBI letter dated September 1, with another endorsement dated November 2, notifies Khullar about invalidating his credit card for non-payment and not responding to three reminders sent to clear his outstanding dues.