COVID-Plea In Supreme Court Seeks Directions To Permit Banks To Offer Moratorium On Payments To Borrowers From Classifying Loan Accounts As NPA

The plea filed by a NGO Trust Distress Management Collective has sought directions to Centre and the Reserve Bank of India, to issue a notification to all the banks to refrain from classifying any loan account as NPA for non-payments of EMI from April to August at the very least.

Further directions have been sought to consider formulating a stimulus package that will help the aggrieved to move forward from the pangs of this second wave and a possible imminent third wave.

The petitioner organisation has filed the plea in wake of requests from scores of people who fall in the middle class category and have availed loan from a bank, whose prime grievance is that they are facing extreme difficulty to pay the EMIs since the onset of the second wave of covid-19, especially due to the stringent state-wise lockdowns.

The petitioner has argued that when the situation was not as bad last year as it is in the second wave, RBI had granted the relief of moratorium for 3 months which was subsequently extended to 6 months and had also provided for the facility of restructuring loans.

The petitioner has cited media reports to state that even chiefs of private sector banks have reportedly met with the Reserve Bank of India, to pitch for a limited moratorium of payments and wider window to restructure dues, with precise demand being allowing banks to offer a moratorium on payments between April and June.

The present plea has been filed by Advocate Jose Abraham and drawn by Advocates Robin Raju and Deepa Joseph.