The Supreme Court on Friday refused to pass any direction in a plea seeking a moratorium of six months on the repayment of bank dues, owing to the second wave of Novel Coronavirus.
A Divisional Bench of Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice M.R. Shah noted, “In the earlier round of litigation, we had dealt with these aspects. We are within the policy realm. Financial repercussions, we cannot decide.”
The petition has been filed by Advocate Vishal Tiwari, seeking direction for all financial institutions not to take action for auctioning of any property of citizens of any party for a period of six months. The plea alleged that the Centre and the RBI are not doing enough to mitigate the hardships faced by people during the crisis and said no financial package has been announced to give succor to the affected.
Mr Tiwari, appearing in person, submitted, “One crore citizens have become jobless. Present situation is first, Earlier they were fired but given relief. No relief given here.”
“Such non-action and reluctance on part of the respondents have violated the fundamental rights of livelihood and dignity and therefore, requires the immediate intervention of this Court in the interest of public justice,” the plea stated.
However, the Bench observed, “The petitioner has annexed the circular of RBI, by which the RBI has given MSMEs some concessions. It has been submitted that it’s not sufficient. He has sought for financial measures.”
The Court, while disposing of the petition noted, “We have heard and decided in the earlier writ petition. No direction can be issued in the instant petition. We have observed for the government and Union of India to consider the petitioner.”