In a big relief to the State government, Chief Electoral Officer Teeka Ram Meena on Saturday cleared its proposal to extend the moratorium on loan-recovery proceedings against farmers till December 31.
The final decision, however, lies with the Election Commission of India. Mr. Meena said that he would refer the matter to the commission along with his recommendation favouring clearance.
In reaching a decision on the matter, Mr Meena said, he had considered the ‘sensitive nature’ of the issue. The recent farmer suicides also proved a decisive factor in his decision to clear the proposal, which had got snagged on the model code of conduct for the Lok Sabha elections.
A March 5 Cabinet meeting had decided to extend the moratorium on recovery of all types of bank loans availed of by farmers.
But government departments failed to issue the enabling orders on time. The model code came into effect on March 10, forcing the government to approach the Chief Electoral Officer.
Final clearance
“Considering the urgency of the situation and the farmer suicides, we thought it a fit case to be recommended to the Election Commission. We will refer the matter to the Election Commission with my recommendation. They have to give the final clearance,” Mr. Meena said.
On the other hand, Mr Meena is understood to have raised doubts regarding the urgency of the March 5 decision.
After the mid-August floods in 2018, the State government had declared a one-year moratorium on loan-recovery proceedings in October 2018, which, in fact, was valid till October 11, 2019.
Extended
It was this moratorium that was extended till December 31 this year.
In fact, after the March 5 decision was entangled in the election model code controversy, the government had clarified that the farmers would not suffer since the earlier moratorium was still in place.
Published - March 30, 2019 07:05 pm IST
