An attempt by a nationalised bank to repossess a house mortgaged for ₹4.5 lakhs purportedly drove the debtors, a mother and daughter, to commit suicide by setting themselves on fire at their home in Marayimuttom in Neyyatinkara on Tuesday afternoon.
Their deaths triggered a public outcry over the lending ethics of banks with leaders across the political spectrum slamming the apparent double standard employed by the creditors to go soft on corporate defaulters and big-time debt dodgers and balance-the-books by ratcheting up revenue recovery proceedings against minor debtors.
According to the police, Lekha and her daughter, Vaishnavi, committed suicide after the deadline on Tuesday to repay their housing loan expired.
Officials of the Canara Bank had called on them on Friday and served a notice for repossession of their home under the provisions of the Securitization and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest (SARFAESI) Act, 2002.
Investigators said the family had sought time till Tuesday to sell of the property and repay the bank. However, no buyer materialised, and calls from the bank beset them.
Bank’s version
An official of the Canara Bank said Lekha’s husband R. Chandran had availed himself of a housing loan of ₹4.5 lakhs and mortgaged his 10-cent plot at Marayamuttom as collateral in 2005. He paid ₹27,000 as a partial refund of the credit in 2006.
In 2010, the Canara Bank declared his loan a non-performing asset. The official said the bank gave Mr Chandran nine years to repay the loan.
Last week, the bank moved the court and procured a warrant for repossession of Mr. Chandran’s house and land.
Its officers called on their family at their home in the company of a court-appointed commissioner and the police and served them the notice. They also honoured the family’s plea for time till Tuesday to close the loan. The official denied any harassment on the part of the bank.
Protest marches
However, the deaths triggered angry protest marches and torchlight processions across the district. Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac said the bank’s move to retake possession of the house despite the intervention of the local MLA G.K Hareendran smacked of insensitivity to the travails of ordinary folk.
It ran against the spirit of the decision of the meeting of the State Level Banker's Committee wherein it was decided that banks would not throw out families in debt out of their homes by initiating revenue recovery proceedings. The Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party have condemned the incident.
