Cases pile up as debt tribunal goes headless

 


Rahul Devulapalli, TNN Mar 10, 2012, 02.44AM IST 

HYDERABAD: The Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT), a significant arm of the Union ministry of finance which deals with cases related to the nationalized banks, has almost been reduced to a defunct entity in the city thanks to the absence of a regular Presiding Officer (PO).

Having had no permanent presiding officers for almost two years now, the DRT has more than 2,700 cases pending with it which were filed by either banks or their customers. It is estimated that at least Rs 1,000 crore in recoveries has been held up due to the delay in clearing these cases.

The presiding officer is generally a judge of the rank of a district and sessions judge and is the sole judicial authority to hear and pass orders. But, after PO D Gopal Krishna was suspended in April 2010, his chair has yet to get a permanent occupant. The PO of Mumbai DRT-1, A Vijay Kumar, is the acting PO of the Hyderabad tribunal. Since the acting PO visits Hyderabad no more than a couple of times in a month, the tribunal functions only on those days.

The tribunal deals with cases related to banks from the Rayalaseema and Telangana regions but has had only one recovery officer in the last four months instead of the stipulated two officers.

But now, Ramu Itikyal, a social activist and para legal volunteer with AP State Legal Service Authority, is planning to submit a memorandum to the Union finance ministry drawing its attention to the current crisis of personnel.

"It is public money which is involved in these recovery cases. The tribunal should work efficiently to recover debt money as soon as possible," he said, adding that a permanent PO should be immediately appointed and other vacant posts be filled.

He said that citizens who have approached the tribunal seeking more time for repayment of loans stand to be especially inconvenienced by the snail's pace of functioning.

"Case disposal rate is very slow. A citizen who has approached the tribunal for more time to repay the loan faces a long wait in getting the order. Interest, however, would be charged on his loan for that duration. And, if the decision goes against him, he has to pay an extra sum, too, which is very unfair."

TV Bhaskar, RTI activist and director of the SIRI voluntary organization, has even filed an RTI appeal seeking complete details of the cases and orders heard in the recent past. "The cases should be disposed of within a month; then only can proper justice be said to have been done. But here it takes a long time for cases to even be heard," Bhaskar said.

Bhaskar also spoke of malpractices in the matter of loan settlements effected by the tribunal.

"There are increasing cases of partial recovery of huge loans. That is due to some corrupt bank officials who are hand in glove with some customers who do not want to repay the complete loan amount."

A senior official, however, clarified that the tribunal was functioning smoothly.

"The last permanent PO is still under suspension; unless he is removed another cannot be appointed in his place. The acting PO from Mumbai DRT-1 tries to clear as many cases as possible whenever he is here," he said.