On Friday, Chief Justice S. V. Gangapurwala and Justice P. D Audikesavalu of the High Court of Madras directed the banks to only use the ways that are established by law to recover loan amount from people instead of using muscle power.
According to the bench of the Justices the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) already has elaborate guidelines that each bank in the country needs to follow. The RBI has also warned to ban the bank if any complaints about using force for loan money are found against it.
A PIL petition was filed in the court by advocate S. Rajnikanth claiming that farmers had been coerced for the loan amount that they had taken. The division commented on it by saying that in such a case, farmers have every right to approach the judiciary or the police.
Banks are also asked to periodically review their recovery approaches and suggest ways to improve the guidelines.
The bench of Justices has assured the petitioner that the grievances of the farmers and the other issues related to banks will be taken care of.
Written by Disha Hatikakoty,Maitreyi College, University of Delhi intern under legal vidhiya