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Banks told not to harass loan, credit card defaulters

KARACHI: Deciding a number of identical constitutional petitions filed by citizens who had obtained loans or availed credit card facilities and later defaulted, a division bench of the Sindh High Court (SHC), comprising Justice Mrs Qaiser Iqbal and Justice Syed Mehmood Alam Rizvi, directed commercial banks not to raid the offices or residences of the petitioners, stating that, in such cases, the president of the concerned bank would be held responsible.

The petitions were filed by Syed Khursheed Hassan Naqvi, Zaheeruddin Baber, Ramesh, Syed Zaigham Hussain Ram Pal and others against almost all commercial banks of the city, the Airport Police Station SHO, Malir Police Station SHO and others.

Appearing in the main petition filed by Naqvi, Advocate Gohar Iqbal submitted that the petitioner was an employee of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), who had availed credit card facilities. The petitioner maintains that when he applied for the credit card, his salary was enough for repayment but due to the rapid inflation rate, he found himself unable to pay back. The petitioner stated that, although, he stopped using the facility, he made regular payments until it became impossible for him to pay. However, he added that once he stopped paying, recovery officers of the banks started harassing him and his family members, regularly visiting his residence and bad mouthing the family.

The bench pointed out that an elaborate mechanism has been provided in the banking rules for recovery of debts and in all cases, irrespective of the amount involved, a recourse to legal pleadings is available. The bench, disposing off all the petitions, directed the banks heads to put a stop to the harassment at once and file cases for recovery of bad debts, warning that in case of violation, the president of the bank will be held solely responsible. staff report

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