Madras HC raps bank officials over refusal to grant loan to student

The Madras High Court came down heavily on a nationalised bank in Tiruvannamalai district for declining to grant loan to a student of a Siddha medical college here on the grounds that the institution did not "maintain placement records of outgoing students".

When the petition filed by S Naveen came up yesterday, Justice S Vaidyanathan observed that it was very unfortunate that the future of the student was at stake, due to the flimsy reasons given by the Arani branch of the Indian Bank.

Pulling up the bank officials, the judge said, "Though a cost of Rs 1 lakh should have been imposed on the officials, who have rejected the loan, taking note of the fact that henceforth, the bank would act in terms of the revised IBA Model Educational Loan Scheme, 2015, no cost is imposed." The judge refrained from slapping a fine of Rs 1 lakh on the bank after an undertaking was given by it to consider the educational loan application of the petitioner.

The petitioner submitted that he had secured 1,017 marks in state board exam during 2014-15 and joined Sri Sai Ram Siddha Medical College & Research Centre, here by making an initial payment of the tuition fees after taking hand loans from known sources.

For further payment of the fees, the student had in 2016 made an application to the bank, which rejected his plea on the ground that the college was not "maintaining placement records of its outgoing students."

The petitioner then moved the high court seeking a direction to the bank to sanction educational loan.

During the hearing, the judge said, "The court is of the view that if the petitioner fulfills the guidelines stipulated by the bank, the request shall be considered."