The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Wednesday dismissed the petition that challenged a government order giving effect to waiver of loans obtained by pledging gold jewellery up to five sovereigns from cooperative banks.
A Division Bench of Justices Paresh Upadhyay and Krishnan Ramasamy observed whether the G.O. was in furtherance of the public policy or can be said to be against the public policy and whether issuance of G.O. by the government in compliance with the promises made to the people at large calls for any interference or not need not be examined in the form of the public interest litigation.
“If any aggrieved party challenged the G.O. the same may be examined on its own merits”, the judges said. The court was hearing a public interest litigation petition filed by S. Lingaraj of Thoothukudi district.
He challenged the G.O. that was issued in November, 2021.The petitioner said the G.O. stated that gold loans taken from cooperative banks till March 31, 2021 would be waived off based on certain criteria to benefit the needy. He said that it was announced without any valid reason and those people who repaid the loans don’t have any benefit.