Picture : Twitter / ANI
The Supreme Court has refused to interfere with the government and RBI’s loan moratorium policy, and declined to extend the six-month loan moratorium period. Justice M R Shah said that a complete waiver of interest not possible as it affects depositors. From various steps that have been taken by RBI and Centre, it can’t say they didn’t address the issues of borrowers, the Supreme Court said.
Court won’t debate academic matters of trade and commerce. Not for us to decide if public policy could have been better. The government has its own constraint to handle the issue, said Justice MR Shah
The apex court refused to interfere with the Centre’s and Reserve Bank of India (RBI’s) decision to not extend the loan moratorium beyond August 31 last year, saying it is a policy decision.
A bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan said the top court cannot do judicial review of the Centre’s financial policy decision unless it is malafide and arbitrary.
The apex court said it cannot interfere with the government’s decision to fix priorities for relief during the pandemic which has affected all across the country. The bench said this in its verdict on a batch of pleas filed by various trade associations, including from real estate and power sectors, seeking extension of the loan moratorium period and other reliefs in view of the pandemic.
