The Kerala High Court on Tuesday issued notice to the Central government and the State Bank of India (SBI) on a writ petition against the decision to “acquire” the State Bank of Travancore (SBT).
The notice was issued on a petition filed by Pannian Ravindran, CPI leader and chairman, Save SBT Forum, and others.
According to the petitioners, an acquisition proposal was moved at the director board of the SBI without proper notice and agenda/background papers, data, and other details, violating the Centre’s guidelines, good governance and transparency practices, and the provisions of the Companies Act, 1956. The petitioners pointed out that the SBI was functioning at more than optimal level. Therefore, the decision to take over associate banks, including SBT, was unwarranted and would lead to lack of proper control, increased risk in lending big loans, and a possibility of malpractices and misappropriation of funds through falsification of accounts. In fact, the consolidation would also result in less competition, resulting in fewer choices for customers and arbitrary pricing of products.
