MADURAI
A student doing Ph.D. in IIT- Madras, currently staying in Tirupati for a project, has approached the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court after her scholarship account was frozen by a nationalised bank following non-payment of loan.
K. Uthradevi of Madurai said that she had taken an educational loan from State Bank of India, Y. Othakadai branch, to the tune of ₹ 3.30 lakh in 2009 for pursuing engineering course. With the loan amount not repaid, she received a notice in 2017 from Lok Adalat and the bank sought repayment of the loan with interest, which stood to ₹5.88 lakh.
She contended that following an announcement of the Central government in 2014 that the government would pay interest on educational loans taken before March 31, 2009, till December 31, 2013, outstanding loans as on December 31, 2013 qualified under the scheme. The borrower had to resume payment of interest on loans from January 1, 2014, the petitioner said.
However, this was not considered and though the petitioner was willing to pay the loan amount of ₹ 3.30 lakh, it was refused by SBI. Further notices were sent in 2018 seeking repayment.
In the meanwhile, with pending payment of the loan amount, her scholarship account at SBI, Chittoor, was frozen and ATM card blocked on the recommendation of the Madurai branch. Arrears were deducted from the account, she claimed.
She sought a direction to allow her to operate the account without which she would not be able to complete her project.
Justice M.S. Ramesh, taking up the plea for hearing, directed notice to SBI. The case has been posted for further hearing.