The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Centre and RBI to respond to a plea challenging the levy of interest on loans during the moratorium period, which has now been extended by another three months till August 31.
The petition filed by one Gajendra Sharma, a UP-based optical merchant, had questioned the constitutional validity of the RBI’s circular dated March 27 by which it had provided a moratorium on recovery of loans for three months during the lockdown, but at the same did not grant any exemption in terms of the accumulated interest components.
Senior advocate Rajiv Datta appearing for the petitioner told a bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, Sanjay Kishan Kaul and M.R.Shah that instead of waiving the interest too, the RBI has permitted the banks to collect compound interest from the customer at the end of the moratorium period, which he said, in a way, was a “penalty” imposed on the customer.
The apex court while issuing notices posted the matter for further hearing after one week.
Full wages
The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Centre to “treat with urgency” the issue raised in the pleas challenging the home ministry’s March 29 notification asking private establishments to pay full wages to workers during the lockdown.
A bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan, which is hearing thorugh video conference, asked the government to file its response on the petitions and posted the matter for hearing next week.