The Union government on Friday submitted before a Division Bench of the Kerala High Court that it will inform the court its decision on the issue of waiving of bank loans taken by those affected by the Wayanad landslides in two to three weeks.
The submission was made by A.R.L. Sundaresan, Additional Solicitor General of India, when a suo motu case registered in the wake of the landslides came up for hearing before the Bench of Justice A.K. Jayasankaran Nambiar and Justice Eswaran S. He further submitted that the Union Finance Ministry had to take all banks into confidence before taking a call on the loan waiver. The amount of loan to be waived will have to be given by the Centre as these banks cannot incur loss on account of waiver.
This financial year
When he submitted that the loans were not waived during COVID times and the Centre had imposed only moratorium on loan payment, the Bench pointed out that there was only a temporary loss of business at that time. However, a lot of people had lost their lifetime earnings in the natural disaster. Waiver could be limited to a certain amount of loans. It would help farmers and growers, who were the ones most affected by the natural disaster. The decision on the issue has to be taken before the end of the current financial year, the court added.
The court also pointed out that the State must launch its projects and expend the amount required without waiting for the Centre’s assistance. The court orally observed the “State government cannot wait indefinitely for the Union government assistance. You start expanding the amount and when that amount reaches 75% of utilisation, the State can file a statement on the expended amount and we can request the Centre to provide the balance.”
Timely auditing
The court also observed that the amount spent for the reconstruction and rehabilitation projects must be subject to auditing. “Let the audit be on time instead of five years later,” the court added.
Published – February 07, 2025 06:15 pm IST