The Delhi High Court on Tuesday issued notice to the Centre on a petition seeking a direction to scam-hit Punjab & Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank to decide on the request of depositors for withdrawal of their money to cope with hardship during COVID-19 .
A Bench of Chief Justice D.N. Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan also sought response from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and PMC Bank on the plea by social activist Bejon Kumar Misra seeking protection of the depositors.
The fresh plea filed by Mr. Misra stated that the bank had refused to release the deposited amount even as per the terms of its notification June 19, which permits the withdrawal of ₹50,000 or ₹1,00,000 towards hardship due to certain cases such as medical treatment, education, marriage, livelihood expenses for senior citizen, widow and handicapped persons as per the cases.
“The respondents (bank) have miserably failed to follow even their own notification by refusing to disburse the said amount to the depositors of the PMC Bank based on expenses incurred on medical care,” the plea said.
“The situation has come to such a pass that the depositors are completely helpless in carrying out their day-to-day financial activities and becoming victims of avoidable debt and mortgage,” Mr. Misra said.
The RBI has imposed restrictions on the operations of scam-hit PMC Bank, including curbs on withdrawal limits, after an alleged fraud of ₹4,355 crore came to light. Preliminary enquiry has revealed that PMC Bank issued over 70% of its total loans to Housing Development Infrastructure Limited.
The RBI had earlier informed the High Court that restrictions on withdrawal of deposits by PMC bank customers were imposed after reviewing the bank’s liquidity position and its ability to pay its depositors.
