NGO YKO helps farmers get back blank cheques taken against RBI directions
NGO YKO helps farmers get back blank cheques taken against RBI directions
Ferozepur, August 7, 2016: Youth Kamal Organisation –an NGO working for the welfare of farmers – arranged the return of blank cheques, which banks had forced farmers to give besides mortgaging their property to get loans sanctioned.
Happy Mann, President, YKO had taken up the matter with the Union Ministry of Finance and Reserve Bank of India (RBI), complaining that some banks had been violating the RBI instructions concerning issuance of post-dated blank cheques. The lapses in the repayment of loans due to agrarian crisis have triggered unfortunate incidents of suicides but the state government was not concerned about it, said Maan.
Mann informed that OBS branches at Sadar Bazar and Railway Road have returned the blank cheques to the farmers – Tara Singh Rs.10.64 lakh, Narinder Pal Rs.12 lakh, Kuldip Singh Jatala Rs.21.96 lakh, Baldev Singh Rs.11.58 lakh and Kuldip Singh Rs.13.17 lakh which were given against the loan limit to the banks.
As per the directions of Supreme Court of India, blank chques taken at the time of sanctioning of loan, the case for cheque bouncing cannot be moved in the court but the farmers had to face a very awkward position in the courts due to lack of authenticated proofs, he said.
He said, the YKO has initiated the campaign of getting returned the blank chaeques to the farmers and so far more than 2300 cheques by the different banks have been arranged.
He also appealed to the farmers that in case any of the bank demands for the blank cheques at the time of taking loan, they should contact him for intervention.
He said, some of the nationalized and private banks besides cooperative institutions had not so far accepted requests to refund such illegal cheques, criminal cases will now be lodged against branch managers for causing mental agony.
