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RS Passes Bill to Tighten Noose Around Loan Defaulters

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The Rajya Sabha has passed a Bill that amends four different Acts to expedite disposal of debt recovery applications, and will complement the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code passed by Parliament in May.
The Enforcement of Security Interest and Recovery of Debts Laws and Miscellaneous Provisions (Amendment) Bill, 2016, amends four Acts -the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest (SARFAESI) Act of 2002, the Recovery of Debts due to Banks and Financial Institutions Act of 1993, the Indian Stamp Act of 1899, and the Depositories Act of 1996.
The Lok Sabha had passed the Bill earlier in the month.
“We cannot have a culture where somebody just takes loan and is under the assumption that it will now be the headache of the banks to recover the money, and banks should be answerable,“ Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in his reply to the debate on the Bill.
The Bill allows secured creditors to take possession of a loan collateral on default through the SARFAESI Act with the assistance of the district magistrate.
“You can't have a situation...that the day you get a loan the bank manager has to keep awake and you sleep well,“ said the finance minister while adding that borrowers wanting to appeal a decision will have to make some deposit. The Bill provides that 50% of debt has to be deposited for making an appeal.
The Bill also provides for oversight of the Reserve Bank of India over asset reconstruction companies.
The Bill fixes a 30-day timeline for the district magistrate to complete this process and he will also assist the lender in taking over the management if the lender has secured more than 51% stake in the company through conversion of debt into equity.
It provides for setting up of a central registry that will maintain records of transactions related to secured assets, which will help prevent fraud by providing clear rights over the assets.
Creditors will not have recourse to the stringent recovery laws if they do not register the secured assets.
The Bill establishes the supremacy of secured creditors' claim to assets of a defaulter over any other claims including other debts, revenues, taxes, cesses and rates payable to central government, state government or any other local authority.
“The law will simplify the procedure by which there will be quick disposal of pending cases of banks and financial institutions by the debt recovery tribunal,“ said Jaitley, adding that the overall objective is to empower the banking system legally and expeditiously.
The finance minister, however, noted that no adverse action will be taken in cases of farm land and that compassion has to be shown in the case of education loan defaults. “Small cases will have to be settled in Lok Adalats.The objective of the new legislation is intended to be electronic.There has to be fairness, as well as firmness,“ he said.
The Bill also provides for filing of recovery applications, documents and written statements in electronic forms and display of interim and final orders of Debt Recovery Tribunals and Debt Recovery Appellate Tribunals on their websites.
The Economic Times New Delhi,10th August 2016

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