The Supreme Court on Thursday extended its interim order on “no loan account to be declared non-performing assets (NPAs) till further order.” The matter has been posted for September 28.

A Bench of Ashok Bhushan, R Subhash Reddy and MR Shah took this stand after the Centre informed the Court that an expert panel had been set up to look into the issue of interest being charged by banks on instalments deferred during the moratorium period. The six-month moratorium ended on August 31.

Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta submitted that the government, at the highest level, is considering all issues in consultation with the RBI as well as other banks and, within two weeks, a decision will be taken on the mechanism of extending benefit to different sectors.

Mehta said that an affidavit would be filed with all decisions and directions of the government and the RBI within two weeks. The same plea was made by the RBI’s counsel V Giri.

Impact of interest waiver

The Government has set up an expert committee under the Chairmanship of former Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) to study the impact of interest waiver on loan moratorium and give its recommendations in a week. The panel’s view will help the Government to take an informed decision.

The committee will have former Monetary Policy Committee member Ravindra Dholakia and former State Bank MD B Sriram as members.

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