The Central Bank had in March 2020 declared a moratorium on the repayment of loan installments, to provide borrowers relief during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A couple of petitions have been filed in the Apex Court of the country to initiate contempt of court proceedings against Reserve Bank of India’s Governor – Shaktikanta Das and others over alleged violation of court orders in the case of loan moratorium.

The Apex Court had in September 2020 order said that until further instructions, banks cannot declare accounts as non-performing assets (NPAs) if they default after the loan moratorium ended on August 31, 2020.

The Petitioners – Gorakh Pandurang Nawade, Pritam Sengupta, Suryakant Prabhakar Pawar, and Shanti Jewellers – had filed their respective pleas through Advocate Vishal Tiwari and Advocate-on-Record (AoR) Abhigya Kushwah, before the Supreme Court in connection with loan moratorium case.

The Petitioners claim that the RBI and banks declared their accounts as NPAs, violating the SC order, according to an ANI report.

The Petitioners have now sought compensation due to the damages caused by declaring their accounts as NPAs. The Petitioners have also sought a 90-day grace period before declaring accounts as NPAs.

This act of contempt of the Respondents has shaken up the confidence of the public and broken the trust of the borrowers, as during this pandemic many of the borrowers where going through an economically rough time.

The stay order was operating as the life-saving drug to the Petitioners but the contemptuous act of the Respondent has brought a major setback to their businesses and its survival has become critical, the Petitioners claimed.

Reported by – Komal Dhore