Hyderabad: Petitioner Adusumilli Jayaprakash, former TD MLA of Vijayawada, submitted in the Hyderabad High Court that the Chief Minister of Telangana had announced on the floor of the Assembly that his government would waive all crop loans up to Rs 1 lakh including those secured by pledging gold.
Reacting to the submissions, the Chief Justice said that the state governments had no role in waiver of the loans as it was a transaction between the bank and the borrower; however the court was not inclined to intervene in the matter as the Chief Minister of Telangana had made an announcement on the floor of the Assembly and as a matter of discipline, the courts did not intervene in matters when they were related to announcements either in Parliament or in the Assembly.
As far as the AP issue is concerned, it had issued a GO to work out the modalities for the loan waiver scheme and it is yet to take a final decision. Only when both the states come to a final decision can the court look into the matter, the Chief Justice added.
Counsel for the petitioner said that the impact of the loan waiver scheme was estimated at Rs 54,000 crore in AP and Rs 20,000 crore in Telangana. He contended that the state government did have the power to waive bank loans and it purely rested with the Union of India as per the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution.
The Chief Justice said that all these aspects would be looked into when the promises of both the governments would transform into a final decision. He added that the court would not hear the case at this stage and if the petitioner could argue on the maintainability of the plea, the court would give him an opportunity to do so. Following this the petitioner sought adjournment of the case to next Monday.
