Rs 8500 crore due from family of Steel King, SC told

New Delhi, Nov 9 (UNI) Counsel for Common Cause, petitioner organisation Prashant Bhushan today told the Supreme Court that the government was not doing enough for the last two years for recovery of Rs 8500 crore outstanding against the firm owned by family members of London-based NRI and world's no 1 steel producer Laxmi Niwas Mittal.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Y K Sabharwal and Justices C K Thakker and R V Raveendran hearing a PIL seeking directions to the government to streamline the procedure for recovery of Non- Performing Assets (NPAs) which are running into thousands of crores of rupees directed the Ministry of Finance to respond to the suggestion by the senior counsel Harish Salve appearing for the RBI that separate commercial courts with separate directorate of prosecution free from government control should be set up at the earliest to speed up the recovery of NPAs of public sector banks which were piling up.

The court directed the Ministry of Finance to file its response within two weeks after seriously considering the suggestion which was acceptable to the court also.

The Central government in its affidavit has however claimed that the recovery of loans fraudulently obtained by the debtors has gone up to over Rs. 6600 crores during the current year. RBI counsel also pleaded that speedy and effective mechanism was the need of the hour to safeguard the country's banking industry against such frauds which may damage the economic foundations of the nation if not checkmated in time.

UNI AKS/SC RP RN1808