Special adalats for cases of bad loans to women

Unwitting women defaulters and bankers in Haryana would for the first time have an opportunity to settle cases before and after litigation. The Haryana State Legal Service Authority, along with public sector commercial banks, has decided to hold Special Lok Adalats for the settlement of cases relating exclusively to women bank loanees.

The adalats will be held on 11 March at all district headquarters in Haryana.

Talking about the benefits, Shekhar Dhawan, member secretary, Haryana State Legal Service Authority, said, "The banks have been asked to refer all eligible cases to these Adalats. Both pre-litigative and post-litigative matters would be covered in these adalats. We are confident that this would turn out to be an expedient and cost effective measure for settlement of disputes."

The move will be a win-win situation for all the stakeholders. With the settlement of disputes, loan defaulters will get concessions on the interest incurred from banks. There are many women borrowers who took loans many years ago but have been unable to pay back the whole amount. Their outstanding amounts are mainly because of huge interest. We would try to persuade both the parties to reach a consensus and settle the accounts."

"Banks are always ready to provide relief to the borrower, provided they are not willful defaulters. We have instructed all field functionaries to ensure participation of maximum eligible women borrowers, so that they can benefit from this expeditious mode of settlement. It will also help us to recover amount from dead accounts, without following the lengthy and tedious route of Debt Recovery Tribunal or civil courts," said, B P Chopra, General Manager, Haryana Zone, Punjab National Bank, and Convener of Haryana State Level Bankers' Committee.

"The Lok Adalats would result in economic empowerment of women by settling their bad loans. Besides this, we also plan to disburse fresh loans to needy women borrowers in the state," he added.

"Loan defaulters would be saved from contesting their cases in the court. This would save their litigation and court fees. Similarly, banks will save from spending huge amounts on litigation and time. It usually takes years for a case to reach a logical conclusion. At the same time, it would be beneficial for the judicial system as it would decrease the backlog of pending cases and the judicial officers would be able to concentrate more on serious matters," added Dhawan.