In a first of its kind, The Gujarat High Court slammed State Bank of India (SBI) for denying no-dues certificate of a farmer in Gujarat for an outstanding owed amount of 31 paise.The farmer, Shamjibhai Pashabhai needed the certificate for a land deal in the outskirts of Ahmedabad. The purchasers Rakesh Verma and Manoj Verma, offered to pay the outstanding amount to get the certificate, however, there was still little response from the bank, reported TOI. Annoyed at no progress, they approached the High Court in 2020.The bank told the court that Pashabhai still owed 31 paise more after the repayment of the crop loan he took. Justice Bhargav Karia said, “This is too much.”
The judge also rapped the bank, saying that withholding important documents for such a meagre amount was “nothing but harassment.”The judge stated twice during the course of the hearing that there was a rule that anything less than 50 paise is not to be counted. The judge posted a further hearing for May 02 and asked the bank to file an affidavit on the matter. The Vermas had purchased a parcel of the land from Pashabhai, before he repaid the crop loan. The outstanding amount prompted the bank to place a charge and the names of the new owners could not be added to the land papers.During the course of the court case, filed in 2020, the loan was repaid completely but the bank still refused to issue the no-dues certificate because of 31 paise of outstanding amount. The furious judge scolded the bank and said SBI, being a nationalized bank, still harasses people regularly.