The Gujarat High Court has strongly reprimanded the State Bank of India (SBI). The case pertains to non-issuance of no-dues certificate to the State Bank of India in the sale of land to a farmer for an outstanding amount of only 31 paise. The petitioner had appealed to the High Court in this regard. It was mentioned in the petition that he had purchased agricultural land from a farmer who had once taken a crop loan and had a loan of 31 paise.
In the case, the petitioners Rakesh and Manoj Verma had bought a part of agricultural land in Sanand from a farmer, after which they had to move the High Court. In fact, the old owner of the previous land had taken a cash crop loan of Rs 4.55 lakh from SBI. In such a situation, when the new owners were asked to register their names as owners in the land before the Revenue Department, their application was rejected. Then it came to know that 31 paise is left as a loan.
According to advocate Jinesh Kapadia, representing the petitioners, the previous owner of the land had returned the loan taken from the bank; But this loan remained active due to the outstanding amount of only 31 paise. Due to the arrears, the land became the bank’s charge and the names of the new owners could not be entered in the revenue records. The reason behind this was also the non-issuance of certificate of outstanding dues due by the 31 paise pending by SBI.
SBI said on Wednesday that the borrower has cleared the outstanding amount in the crop loan account. Thereafter, the court directed SBI to keep the account details on record and put the matter for further hearing on May 2. However, during this hearing, Justice Bhargava Karia of the Gujarat High Court pulled up the State Bank of India (SBI) in a tough stance.
Justice Bhargava Karia observed during the open court proceedings that “Did you know that the Banking Regulation Act says that anything less than 50 paise should be ignored. Justice Karia further said that a nationalized bank is saying that no-dues certificate will not be issued due to outstanding dues of only 31 paise? Why is SBI “harassing people?” This is harassment by the bank manager. It is too much.