The Supreme Court came down heavily on the centre and said: “You cannot be interested only in business and not about sufferings of people.”
Taking note of centre’s alleged inaction, the Supreme Court today asked the Centre to clarify its stand within a week on the waiver of interest on interest for deferred payments of instalments for loans during the moratorium period announced due to the coronavirus lockdown.
The Supreme Court came down heavily on the centre and said: “You cannot be interested only in business and not about sufferings of people.”
“It appears that the Centre is hiding behind the RBI (Reserve Bank of India) decision on this issue when it had ample powers under Disaster Management Act to decide whether it could stop banks from charging interest on deferred EMIs (equated monthly instalments) and stop interest on interest for moratorium period,” the apex court said.
SC also gave centre one week to clear its stand on the moratorium on loan repayment and file an affidavit. The court has to decide whether interest can be waived off, or whether it can stop the interest being charged on interest accrued during the moratorium period.
The moratorium on repayment of term deposits for three months was announced by the RBI in March. It was later extended till 31 August.
On June 4, the RBI said that lenders will lose over 2 lakh crore if the interest is not charged during the moratorium period.
Earlier, the top court had said that there is “no merit in charging interest on interest”.
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