New Delhi:The Delhi High Court Tuesday asked the Centre and the RBI to respond to a plea seeking release of up to Rs 5 lakh to depositors of the scam-hit Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank Ltd to help them address health issues during the prevalent COVID-19 pandemic.
A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan issued notice to the Finance Ministry, Reserve Bank of India and PMC Bank seeking their stand on the application moved by consumer rights activist Bejon Kumar Misra.
The court asked them to file replies before the next date of hearing on August 19.
Misra, in the application filed through advocate Shashank Deo Sudhi, has said the court on an earlier date of hearing had asked the depositors to make a representation to the Centre, the RBI or PMC Bank regarding their financial difficulties and seeking withdrawal of money.
The application has said that despite making such a representation, no action has been taken till date to help the depositors withdraw money as per their requirement from the PMC Bank.
It said that while the moratorium on withdrawals has been extended to December 2020, more than 35 depositors of the bank have allegedly ended their lives due to financial constraints.
The application has said there appears to be no lack of funds with the bank as more than Rs 8 crore are being spent on upkeep of its branches, including payment of salaries of the staff, but depositors are struggling to even withdraw their own hard-earned money.
It has claimed that senior citizen depositors are "completely crippled" in terms of their financial liquidity to purchase essential utilities and medicines.
It has contended that the bank was not even releasing money equivalent to insured amount of Rs 5 lakh to help out the depositors in case of health crisis.