Andhra Pradesh High Court: States can’t waive farmer loans

Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court on Monday made it clear that neither the AP nor the Telangana state governments had the power to waive the loans that farmers had borrowed from banks.

The court, however, said that it would not intervene in the issue at this stage as it was premature. A division bench comprising Chief Justice Kalyan Jyoti Sengupta and Justice P.V. Sanjay Kumar was dealing with a plea by Mr Adusumilli Jayaprakash, former TD MLA of Vijayawada, seeking a direction to the Telangana and AP governments not to proceed further with the waiver of agricultural loans availed from banks.

Mr M.V. Durga Prasad, counsel for the petitioner, submitted that in AP, the TD had promised total waiver of loans not only to farmers, but also loans to self-help women’s groups.
The TRS, has promised waiver of farmer loans of up to Rs 1 lakh. He said after coming to power, AP issued GO Ms. No. 31, on June 10 to appoint an expert committee, stating that it desired to waive agricultural crop loans given to farmers, women’s self help groups and handloom and powerloom weavers.