Chief Justice (CJ) Lahore High Court Khawaja Muhammad Sharif deferred for November 5 the hearing of a petition requesting that the details of written off loans by commercial banks during last 40 years should be made public and directions should be issued for recovery of these loans. CJ adjourned the hearing on requested of a representative of the State Bank of Pakistan sought time.
An assistant Chief Manager Zahid Pervez on Tuesday appeared before the court and said that he had received the copy of the petition in the last night and had sent it to head office in Karachi for reply, so time should be given. CJ on September 28 had directed the Governor State Bank of Pakistan to provide details of written off loans in previous two years.
CJ had directed a deputy attorney general (DAG) to submit the report, which must indicate that who are the persons who have gotten their loans written off, and what were the reasons for that. A citizen Imran Khan of Pakpattan Sharif moved this petition. Petitioner counsel Noshab A Khan stated that huge amount of loans worth Rs 50.84 billion were written off by the commercial banks during the last two years. He said out of these loans Rs 256 billion had been written off to the well-connected individuals and companies.
He said it must be ascertained that whether the people and firms who got their loans written off actually went bankrupts or if they had the loans forgiven due to patronage. He stated that State Bank of Pakistan being regulatory authority of all banks in country was responsible to conduct inquiry into the matter and to ensure that there had been no financial impropriety in writing off loans.
Petitioner stated that the commercial banks always maintained an aggressive attitude against defaulters of small loans, so much so few days back a man committed suicide in Karachi after being hounded by a recovery team for defaulting on Rs 250, 000. He stated that it was a sad reflection on society when defaulters of small loans were hunted down, while multi million rupee loans of well connected were written off.
Counsel stated that Pakistan owed $55 billion in external debt with an annual interest of $2 billion and the country's internal debt as of March this year stood at Rs 4.491 trillion. He said that this deplorable condition of Pakistani economy could be improved if all the written off loans are taken back from the defaulters irrespective of their status and connections. He, therefore, requested that the State Bank should be directed to disclose the names and details of all such beneficiaries who got their huge loans written off due to patronage and directions should also be issued for recovery of these loans.
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