Supreme Court refuses to extend loan moratorium period beyond August 31
In its verdict, Supreme Court bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, R Subhash Reddy and MR Shah directed that no compound interest shall be charged from borrowers for the six-month loan moratorium period, which was announced last year amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
FollowSupreme Court has refused to interfere with the decision by the Centre and the Reserve Bank of India not to extend the loan moratorium beyond August 31.
In its verdict, the Supreme Court bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, R Subhash Reddy and MR Shah directed that no compound interest shall be charged from borrowers for the six-month loan moratorium period announced last year amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Any amount already charged shall be refunded, credited or adjusted, the court noted.
The verdict was based on pleas seeking an extension of the policy to waive interest payments on coronavirus support loans to give relief to millions of people.
The Supreme Court bench said that it considered the reliefs given by the Centre and RBI independently.
The court noted complete waiver on interest was detrimental as banks too needed to pay interest to their account holders and pensioners.
Justice MR Shah was quoted by legal website Bar and Bench as saying that courts cannot be advisors to the executive on economic policy subjects.
"Coronavirus hit all sectors, and the central government had to take measures like providing transport to migrants. Even the government had no support during the pandemic, and it even suffered GST."
