A Delhi court has allowed the Janakpuri branch of State Bank of India to recover Rs.5.54 lakh from a graduate and his father for defaulting on an education loan of Rs.3.71 lakh for doing BTech from Haryana Institute of Technology in 2007.
The student and the father were co-borrowers and mother the guarantor. The court passed the decree for recovery ex parte as the three respondents did not respond to the court’s notices on the suit filed by the bank even after publication in a newspaper.
The chief branch manager of the bank’s centralised recovery branch at Janakpuri had moved the court for recovery of the outstanding amount. The bank had sanctioned the loan at an interest of 12.75 per cent per year. It had sought recovery of the outstanding amount at an interest rate of 14.50 per cent per annum along with cost of the suit.
Borrowers did not comply with agreementThe bank submitted before the court that the borrowers had failed to comply with the loan agreement and committed regular defaults in repayment despite repeated demands, notices and personal visits by the bank staff. The repayment instalment was Rs.8,405 per month.
“The testimony of Surender Kumar [the chief manager of the centralised recovery branch] remained unrebutted and the borrowers chose to remain ex parte. It is evident that the bank has succeeded in proving its case against them,” Additional District Judge Kaveri Baweja said.
“Accordingly, the bank is allowed and a decree of recovery of Rs.5,54,394 along with interest at the rate of nine per cent per annum from the date of institution of the suit till realisation of the decreed amount is passed in favour of the bank and against the borrowers. The plaintiff bank shall also be entitled to the costs of the suit,” Ms. Baweja said.
