The Kerala High Court on Thursday said it will pass orders advising the Centre and National Disaster Management Authority to take measures to waive off loans of Wayanad landslide victims. The court observed that measures must be taken to prevent such disasters this year.
Hearing a suo motu PIL over Wayanad landslide, the Kerala High Court observed a bit of “goading” from the Union government and NDMA can convince banks to waive off loans of disaster victims. Hearing the matter, the High Court observed the Kerala Bank has waived off loans to the tune of Rs 5 crore of disaster-affected people and banks with lesser exposure can definitely initiate similar steps.
A bench of Justices A.K. Jayasankaran Nambiar and Easwaran S. observed Kerala Bank had waived off the disaster victims' loans and it had an exposure of around Rs 5 crore. If the Kerala Bank can do it, then the other banks, which have lesser exposure, can also do the same. "It only requires a bit of goading from the NDMA and the Union government," PTI reported quoting the bench.
The High Court noted while the RBI cannot ask banks to waive the loans of landslide victims, the Union government and the National Disaster Management Authority can do so. The Kerala High Court made the observation after the Centre filed an affidavit that as per RBI's master directions on natural calamities, the loans of the disaster victims can only be restructured or rescheduled.
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The Kerala High Court also directed the Kerala government to take adequate measures to avert such disaster this year. "Preparatory measures should start before the monsoons. It has already started raining now. The NDMA should liaise with the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) to avert any possible disaster this year," the publication reported quoting court.
Over 200 persons died and hundreds suffered injuries in the Wayanad landslide in July last year.
