Anxious over the rise in bad loans, the Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the government to provide “empirical data” on cases pending in Debt Recovery Tribunals (DRTs) for over 10 years and the list of corporate entities with debts in excess of ₹500 crore.
A Bench led by Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur also directed the government to provide a complete and detailed report on whether DRTs and their appellate bodies are well-equipped, as far as infrastructure and manpower, to take on defaulting corporate entities which have reneged on loans and render timely justice.
The Bench, also comprising Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud, directed the government to file an affidavit in four weeks.
The court referred to how the new Enforcement of Security Interest and Recovery of Debt Laws and Miscellaneous Provisions (Amendment) Bill, 2016 was introduced in the Lok Sabha on May 11, 2016 with the express purpose of combating pendency in bad loans cases.
The Bill was referred to a Joint Committee of both Houses of Parliament. The panel presented its report to the LS on July 22, 2016. Eventually, a law has been enacted by Parliament and published on August 16 last year. But the SC expressed its scepticism on whether the new legislation by itself would be able to solve the rising pendency in bad loan cases in overburdened DRTs.
