The petition was filed to ask for directions from the Centre to ask banks and financial institutions not to take actions against Borrowers for six months
The PIL will be heard by the Division Vacation bench of Justice Ashok Bhushan and Mr. Shah. The Apex court on Monday [24-05-21] will hear a Public Intrest Litigation [PIL] filed by advocate Vishal Tiwari. The plea is on financial stress faced by the borrowers during the COVID-19 times.
The plea filed by Advocate Vishal Tiwari seeks direction to the Centre for taking measures over the financial stress faced by the borrowers. The PIL asks the Centre to permit all the lending banks and financial institutions to grant interest-free moratorium period [time during a loan term when the borrower is not required to make any repayment] this shall be done for term loans and installments for a period of at least six months or till the current scenario normalizes.
The plea also mentions a request to the financial institutions and banks, to not take any strict actions against the property of the borrower for six months, as he mentions the tough lives on the daily basis wage earners which are affected by the lockdown imposed due to lockdown.
Advocate Vishal Tiwari states in his plea that the financial burden of such people shall be decreased and citizens should not lose their dignity. He states that the financial policies are made by the government for the sake of everyone’s good, but in this current situation there is a question of survival above the financial policies. And the people of our nation shall survive with dignity, not with stress.
A few months back in March this year, The Apex court had ordered the banks to stop charging borrowers any penal interest or compound interest on their loans during the time from March to August 2020 in view of the pandemic situation and lockdowns. The court also stated that interest charged by the banks for non-payment of any loans during that amount shall be refundable, and if the banks are not in a position to refund such loans, the same amount shall be adjusted in the loan amount.