The Supreme Court (SC) on October 5 continued hearing a batch of petitions seeking interest waiver during the six-month loan moratorium period.
The SC bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, R Subhash Reddy and MR Shah will next hear the case on October 13.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) granted a moratorium on repayment of term deposits due between March 1 and August 31, which let borrowers defer EMI payments. The measure was intended to provide borrowers relief during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The court had on September 3 directed banks not to classify accounts as non-performing assets (NPAs) until further orders.
Here are the key takeaways from the hearing on October 5:
> The top court pulled up the central bank and the government for not placing the Kamath Committee report on record. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said the report is in the public domain, and will be placed on record.
> The SC granted time to the government, the RBI, the Indian Banks Association and the individual banks to file additional affidavits.
> The court also asked banks to reply to the proposal made by the Centre on October 2. In the affidavit, the government said it will waive compound interest on loans up to Rs 2 crore, providing relief to individual and MSME borrowers.
> The SC said the affidavit does not mention what was done about the Kamath Committee report. "The RBI and the government have to issue certain directions so that people know what benefit has been awarded," Justice Bhushan said.
> The apex court requested the RBI and the Centre to "consider the issues raised by the real estate associations and the power producers". The bench pointed out that the latest affidavit filed does not mention these sectors.
