Bengal’s forum writes to CJI against loan write-offs, seeks judicial probe

A West Bengal-based civil society forum, Bank Bachao Desh Bachao Manch, has written a letter to the Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, seeking his intervention in starting a suo motu judicial probe against increasing incidences of bad loan write-offs.

In the letter, a copy of which has been accessed by IANS, it has been claimed that the banks recovered only Rs 109,186 crore from Rs 586,891 crore loans written off in the last three years, revealing that they could only salvage 18.60 per cent of the write-offs during the three-year period.

“We are of the considered opinion that the humongous write-off of bad loans tantamount loot of national exchequer by corporate wilful defaulters. Perusal of available records will definitely reveal that banks are taking about 65-70% haircuts in IBC/NCLAT mechanism, which reveal that the much touted attempt  for bad loan resolution have failed miserably,” the letter signed by the forum's joint conveners Biswaranjan Roy and Soumya Datta read.

The forum has also expressed apprehension that there is a bigger canvas where both wilful defaulters and the entity which is buying the assets are beneficiaries of a systemic design to loot the national exchequer for the benefit of the corporate house.

“While the defaulting units get away scot-free without having to pay-off debts, another entity buys the assets at a dirt-cheap price, which is a win-win situation for both. The only entity that stands to lose is the national exchequer as public money is being looted by corporate houses,” the letter read.