ANDHRA BANK Vs. VAJRALA VENKATA REDDY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THESE three revision petitions have been filed by Andhra Bank against three separate orders of the Andhra Pradesh State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission in distinct appeals. Although, the details of loan transaction are distinct in each case, the issue involved in all the three cases is identical. The three revisions are therefore taken up together for consideration in this common order.

(2.) IN all the three cases gold loans for agricultural purposes were taken on different dates in the month of March 2007. The respective loan amounts were Rs.49,000.00, Rs.60,000.00 and Rs.27,600.00. In the year 2008, the Central Government announced a scheme for waiver of all agricultural loans and gold loans within the relevant guidelines. The case of the Complainants was not considered by the OP/Andhra Bank. The latter allegedly tried to auction the gold ornaments pledged for the loan. Therefore, a consumer complaint was filed before the District Consumer Forum, Guntur. The District Forum, rejected the contention of OP/Andhra Bank that as per condition no.5 of the loan agreement signed by the borrower, the loan was repayable with interest within one year from the date of sanction and therefore, the Complainant was not eligible for benefit of waiver under the Central Government Scheme. The District Forum, allowed the Complaint with the following order: -

(3.) WE have carefully considered the records, as filed by the two parties and heard Mr. R.P. Vats, Advocate for the revision petitioner/Andhra Bank and Mr. B.S. Sai, Advocate for the respondents/Complainants. Learned counsel for the revision petitioner argued that the eligibility criteria as laid down in Clause 4.1 (a) (i) prescribed three requirements. He agreed that the first is met in all the three cases, as the respective loans were sanctioned/disbursed in March, 2007, but argued that the second condition was not met. In this regard, he drew our attention to Clause 5 in the 'Declarations of the applicant ', in the loan application cum sanction document. It states: -