A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Thursday restrained banks from proceeding or taking coercive steps against victims of endosulfan for recovering loans till a committee headed by the Kasaragod District Collector completed the examination of their claims for loan waiver scheme of the government.
The Bench comprising Chief Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice K.Vinod Chandran issued the interim directive on a batch of writ petitions filed by Mr. Kumaran and others seeking a directive to pay compensation to the victims came up for hearing. They had also pointed out that though the State government had taken a decision in 2014 to write off loans taken by the victims, it was yet to be implemented.
Besides, many banks such as the State Bank of India, cooperative banks and other financial institutions had initiated recovery proceedings against the victims. Though the government order said that debts between Rs.50,000 and Rs.2 lakh would be included in the debt relief scheme, the banks had taken a stand that the government order did not apply to them and they were not bound by the government decision, they complained.
Govt. affidavit
In an affidavit, the government submitted that a total of 1,191 beneficiaries had been identified for the waiver scheme and an amount of Rs.10,90,76,648 had been sanctioned by the government for the purpose. Instructions had been given to the banks not to proceed with the recovery proceedings against these identified persons, the government said.
However, the counsel for the petitioners pointed out that the loan recovery proceedings were being initiated against victims by the banks as no instruction had been issued to the Bank by the Kasaragod district
The court observed that if any claims had been submitted by any of the victims, such claims had to be examined by the Committee headed by the collector and till the examination was completed, the bank shall not proceed or take any coercive steps against the petitioners.
Banks asked not to take action till panel examines claims for loan waiver
State government yet to implement its 2014 decision to write off loans
