The Supreme Court on Tuesday adjourned to tomorrow the hearing on two petitions challenging the interest on interest on the loan during the moratorium period, declared in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A three-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan and also comprising Justices MR Shah and RS Reddy, deferred the matter at 10:30 am tomorrow. "We will hear it tomorrow at 10.30," Justice Bhushan, leading the bench, said.
One of the petitioners, also a lawyer of the apex court, Vishal Tiwari, submitted to the top court that he had already filed his reply and the Supreme Court should take that into the record. After that, the bench said it will see what it can do and posted the matter for tomorrow.
The top court was hearing two petitions -- Gajender Sharma and Vishal Tiwari -- seeking an extension of the moratorium period on repayment of loans and to waive off the interest on the repayment of the loan amount keeping in view the COVID-19 pandemic.
The RBI has already filed a detailed comprehensive affidavit before the Supreme Court and clarified its stand in the entire issue.
The RBI, the respondent number 2 in the petition filed by Gajender Sharma, had announced multiple sets of guidelines since March 2020 to reply appropriately to the evolving situation with the primary objective of enabling all key constituents in the economy, most importantly the borrowers, to cope with the economic fallout, the RBI stated in its detailed counter-affidavit.
RBI exercised its expert wisdom in issuing binding guidelines to lending institutions on how to differentiate the risks arising from borrowers with pre-existing financial difficulties from those which were performing well but had been impacted by the pandemic, the affidavit had said.
It (RBI) has taken a balanced view, taking into account the interest of the depositors, borrowers, real estate sector entities and banks. Financial stability and economic growth of the country were also kept in mind while arriving at its policy decisions by it, the RBI had said in its affidavit.
( With inputs from ANI )
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