HC orders student to disburse education loan

Chennai, Aug 25 (UNI) Madras High Court has ordered a bank to disburse loan to an engineering college student in a week after the applicant withdrew complaint against bank officials.

Disposing a petition, Justice K Venkatraman recorded the submission of the bank made through its lawyer and directed it to sanction the education loan.

In his writ, R Premkumar of Kollamcode in Kanniyakumari District, a diploma-holder in mechanical engineering, said he joined the II-year BE course in the Dr Sivanthi Aditanar College of Engineering, Tiruchendur, during 2007-2008.

He applied to the Kollamcode Branch of the State Bank of Travancore for a loan under the 'Gyan Jyothi Education Loan Scheme.'His father had been an account holder with the branch for 20 years.

However, the manager kept dragging the matter without any justifiable reason. He and his father met the official several times, but he did not get a proper reply.

So, he borrowed Rs 40,000 from a private lender to pay his fees.

He lodged a complaint against the manager with the bank's Head Office at Thiruvananthapuram.

It forwarded the complaint to the Deputy General Manager, Zonal Office, Chennai.

Premkumar took up the matter with the Manager, Banking Ombudsman, Chennai, but the matter was treated as closed without an enquiry.

He prayed the court to direct the bank to sanction the loan for the academic years 2008-09 and 2009-10 to enable him to complete his course.

When the matter came up before Justice K Venkataraman, counsel for the bank, submitted that in view of the petitioner's complaints against the bank officials, the amount could not be disbursed.

If the complaints were withdrawn, he said, there would not be any problem in disbursing the loan. The petitioner's counsel agreed to the requirement.

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