The Karnataka High Court dismissed a PIL seeking direction to the respondents to instruct the Nationalised, Scheduled and Co-operative Banks to release loans to the allottees of civic amenity sites by mortgaging the same civic amenity sites at a very competitive interest.
The petitioner, who claimed to be a leading consulting Neuro Psychiatrist at Hubballi in North Karnataka for the past 40 years, filed the PIL as in-person.
The Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice S. Vishwajith Shetty observed that the loan is sanctioned to the eligible persons under the scheme framed by the Banks in the light of the directions issued by the Reserve Bank of India. The transaction between the borrower and the Bank is contractual in nature.
“The averments made in the petition are vague and general in nature. Not a single instance has been pointed out where an eligible borrower’s request has been turned down unjustifiably by a financial institution. The beneficiaries for whose benefit this public interest litigation has been filed, are neither illiterates nor poor”, the Bench further observed.
Moreover the Bench, while dismissing the PIL, held that it is not the case of the petitioner that either on account of their poverty or illiteracy they are unable to take recourse to remedy provided to them in law, in case they have any grievance with regard to non-disbursement of loan by the Nationalised, Scheduled and Co-operative Banks.