Ban instant loan mobile apps: Plea
- Madurai: The Madras high court on Wednesday sought a response from the central and state governments on a plea seeking to ban instant loan mobile applications.
A division bench of justices M M Sundresh and S Ananthi sought the response while hearing a public interest litigation filed by S Muthukumar, an advocate and resident of Madurai district.
The petitioner stated that several instant loan mobile applications are functioning without proper approval from the Reserve Bank of India. Such applications are also charging excessive interest rates.
Once people avail loan through these applications and are unable to repay the loan amount, the telecallers are harassing them continuously which forces them to resort to extreme steps like taking their lives. He stated that several cases of suicide are reported in the country as people who obtained loans are unable to repay the money within a stipulated time.
He stated that owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, several people tend to obtain loan from these instant loan mobile applications and are facing harassment at the hands of the companies.NEWS IN
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The petitioner stated that though he sent a representation to the authorities seeking to take action against such illegal applications by framing appropriate laws, no steps were taken so far.
Hence, the petitioner moved the high court Madurai bench seeking to ban all such applications. He also sought to frame appropriate laws in order to prohibit such applications since they are charging excessive interest rates and are using inappropriate recovery methods. tnn
