‘Pride to the rich, oppression of the poor!’ Supreme Court publicly put a class on all the banks including SBI, said this very sharp thing

Digital Desk, New Delhi: The country’s largest court, the Supreme Court, has made its biggest and sharpest comment so far on the banking system and the working style of public sector banks. The Supreme Court, while taking on all the other banks including the country’s largest government bank SBI, said that the banks ‘harass’ the general public in the name of giving small loans and make them go through hoops. On the contrary, when it comes to big industrialists and influential companies, loans worth crores and billions of rupees are distributed without thinking and without proper investigation, which later sinks completely.

During the hearing of this case in the Supreme Court, the bench of Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah and Justice R Mahadevan raised serious questions on the banking system. The bench said that today a very worrying and dangerous trend is being seen in the banking sector. When a common man of the country goes to the bank to take a small loan for his personal and important needs, he has to spend a lot of money. At the same time, huge loans of big industrialists are easily passed without any proper investigation.

The company defaulted after taking a loan of Rs 8 crore, did not pay even a single installment for 6 years

This anger of the court was not unnecessary. This entire matter is related to a company from Haryana, which had taken a huge loan of Rs 8.09 crore from SBI in the year 2019. As soon as the loan amount was received from the bank, the company played a strange game and did not repay even a single installment of the loan. The result was that within a few months the bank declared the company’s account as NPA (Non-Performing Asset).

Now, after full 6 years had passed, the defaulter company was knocking on the doors of the Supreme Court and requesting the court that it was ready to pay only the principal amount and its interest should be waived off. The Supreme Court of the country rejected this trick of the company, terming it as too little and too late. The court took immediate action and gave complete freedom to the bank to confiscate all the assets of that company, but along with this, it also put the bank officials who had approved this loan in the dock.

‘The loan process should be easy and fair for the common man’

Recording this strict comment, the Supreme Court said in its written order that it is continuously coming to the notice of the court that all the banks of the country including SBI are extremely careless in the matter of giving huge loans to big companies. In stark contrast, when a common man or a small businessman comes to the doorstep of a bank to take a small loan for his personal needs, he is faced with stringent rules, endless paperwork and a long and tiring process. The court clearly said that this behavior towards the general public is like mental harassment in many cases.

Emphasis on humanizing the loan recovery process

The court also made it completely clear in its order that it is not asking the banks to loosen or weaken their rules. But, it is very important to make the entire process of giving loan and recovering it a little easier, fair and humane. The court said that especially people belonging to the economically weaker section of the society (EWS) should get the maximum benefit from the banking system and not be harassed for loans.

Serious questions raised on negligence of SBI officials

During the hearing, the Supreme Court said in simple words that in this entire matter, the gross negligence and collusion of SBI and its loan approving officers has clearly come to light. The company immediately defaulting on getting the loan and not paying even a single installment clearly shows that the bank did not check the company’s standing and ability to repay the loan before passing the loan.

The court, in a strong tone, asked Additional Solicitor General Archana Pathak Dave, appearing for SBI in this case, to immediately convey the court’s serious concern and displeasure to the higher officials and chairman of the bank. However, the Supreme Court also clarified that they are not issuing any new rules or direct orders against the banks in this particular matter, but this is the last warning to the banks. In future, if such lax attitude of banks and kindness towards big defaulters comes to light in any other case, then the court will not shy away from taking very strict action on this.