Kerala HC raps Centre, NDMA over loan waiver for landslide victims

Kochi: A division bench of the Kerala High Court on Thursday came down heavily on the Union government and the National Disaster Management Authority and asked them why they cannot emulate what the Kerala Bank did to the victims of the Wayanad landslide by writing off their bank loans to the tune of Rs 5 crore.

The bench was hearing a PIL initiated suo motto by the Court in the wake of the Wayanad landslides, aimed at improving disaster prevention and management in Kerala.

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These hard-hitting remarks came when it went through the affidavit of the Centre stating that according to the RBI’s Master Directions on Natural Calamities, the loans of the Wayanad landslides victims can only be restructured or rescheduled.

It was the bench of Justices A.K. Jayasankaran Nambiar and S. Easwaran who came out with this observation, and said: “While the Reserve Bank of India does not have the power to compel banks to write off loans of the disaster affected persons, the NDMA is empowered under the Disaster Management Act to do so. We might emphasise that in these proceedings, we are confronted with a situation where the natural disaster in question has been categorised as ‘severe’ by the Union government itself, and yet the NDMA has not chosen to even consider exercising its power under the statutory provision to direct the banks to waive/write off the loans. In our view, this is nothing but a complete abdication of the responsibility of the Union government and the NDMA.”

The Court further pointed out that, in all, 12 banks together account for a total of 3,220 accounts in the disaster affected area and their total exposure amounted to Rs 35.30 crore.

“Considering the nature of the disaster and its categorisation by the Union government as a ‘severe disaster’, one would expect the banks concerned to emulate the example of the Kerala Bank and write off the loans availed by the people of the affected area.

“In fact, one would expect the banks to further take care of the survivors of the landslide by providing them with appropriate support to build back their lives by sanctioning fresh loans as per the requirement of the borrowers without charging any penal interest for default,” said the Court.

It further pulled up the Centre to live up to its reputation as the Chief Executive in a welfare State and come to the aid of hapless citizens who have lost their source of livelihood, when the majority of banks are seen adopting the ‘shylockian’ model against the borrowers.

The tragedy that took place on July 30 last year left around four villages decimated and left hundreds injured, claimed over 200 lives, and 32 people remain missing.

The bench also cautioned the national and state agencies to ensure that debris is removed and should ensure that before the arrival of monsoons, things are addressed, so as not to have a repeat of what happened last year.

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