The Supreme Court on 16th October 2019 had finally agreed to hear the case of PMC scam on an urgent basis on 18th October of a petition looking for directions in order to provide interim protective measures for protecting near about 15 lakh people whose money were blocked in the Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative Bank.
A PIL has been filed in the Supreme Court, a day after the reported death of a PMC bank account holder over indecision of their savings. The PIL filed was looking for a direction to provide 100% security as well as protection to the savings of a large number of clients.
The bench had stated that on oral mentioning prepared by the petitioner-in-person looking for urgent listing of the case, the registry is directed towards list this matter on Friday, 18th October 2019, before an appropriate bench, subjected to curing of defects.
The petitioner had alleged that the monetary disaster of the PMC bank had resulted in mass erosion of the public confidence in the banking system of our nation.
The Enforcement Directorate is seeing into claims that the bank didn’t report all non-performing assets, or bad loans, after giving funds towards a number of corporations. The scam is estimated to be worth nearly Rs 4,355 crore.
The Reserve Bank of India earlier this month had levied restrictions on the amount of money that could be withdrawn from the bank. Deposit withdrawals were capped at Rs 40,000 for six months.
On 16th October 2019, Wednesday, the matter has been stated for urgent hearing before a bench of Justices NV Ramana, R Subhash Reddy and BR Gavai.
The petition has been filed by Delhi based Bejon Kumar Misra, who stated that the Centre, as well as the RBI, must be ordered to make certain complete insulation as well as insurance of the money deposited by individuals in cooperative banks, which includes nationalized banks also. The petitioner also stated that the Centre and RBI should give 100% insurance coverage for the sum deposited.
The petition added that the government must be directed to set up a high powered committee towards looking into the affairs of every cooperative bank. The petition also sought after quashing of the notifications of the RBI relating to restricting withdrawals from PMC Bank.
The plea stated that being aggrieved by monetary sufferings of thousands of innocent accountholders of PMC Co-operative bank, the query of accountability and propriety should be addressed to encourage the confidence of the people in the banking systems.
Furthermore, the plea claimed that the hard-earned money of the common people was looted and plundered by means of few influential as well as corrupt individuals making them financially orphan and resourceless.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) last month had levied regulatory restrictions on PMC Bank as per Section 35A of the Banking Regulation Act. Pursuant towards these restrictions, a limit has been put on the amount that can be withdrawn through the bank's customers. The final cap on withdrawal of Rs. 25,000 has been progressively increased towards Rs. 40,000 over the course of the last 2 weeks.
The RBI's such action had caused "disastrous consequences" for account holders, the petitioner has also requested that the notifications issued through the banking regulator be affirmed ultra vires Articles 14 as well as 21 of the Constitution.
It also held that the Centre and the RBI had not taken any emergency measures towards the safety of the hard-earned money of around 15 lakh clients of PMC Bank.
The plea stated that a high-powered committee must be constituted in order to look into the whole affairs of working and their action in all co-operative banks towards having a robust and clear mechanism which could encourage the confidence of the people in co-operative banks.
A few PMC bank account holders had filed a PIL in Bombay HC challenging the limit on withdrawals.
According to the initial investigation Mumbai Police's Economic Offences Wing, the bank had given a loan approximately 70% of its Rs 9000 crores deposits towards real estate companies HDIL in infringement of RBI guidelines.
Conclusion
The petition has wanted a course for issuance of "exhaustive and comprehensive guideline" to safeguard the banking as well as co-operative deposits to lessen panic and distress amongst the account holders in the scam-hit PMC Bank.
As per reports, three peoples who had accounts in PMC Bank had lost their lives over the last 24 hours due to the uncertainty over their deposited money in the PMC bank.
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