LexGAJENDRA SHARMA versus UNION OF INDIA AND ANR.
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A B C D E F G H 835 GAJENDRA SHARMA v. UNION OF INDIA AND ANR. (Writ Petition (Civil) No. 825 of 2020) NOVEMBER 27, 2020 [ASHOK BHUSHAN, R. SUBHASH REDDY AND M.R. SHAH, JJ.] Disaster Management Act, 2005: Covid-19 relief – Petitioner had availed home loan of Rs.37.48 lakhs from ICICI Bank – Aggrieved by Notification dated 27.03.2020 issued by Reserve Bank of India, petitioner filed writ petition for declaring said Notification as ultra vires to the extent it charged interest on loan amount during moratorium period – In writ petition, affidavits were filed on behalf of the Union of India which reflected that Central Government was fully conscious of the difficulties faced by various sectors and the stakeholders of the different sectors and different measures were also taken by the Ministry of Finance – One such measure was Order dated 23.10.2020 issued by the Ministry of Finance with regard to Covid-19 relief – The object of the said scheme was to provide ex-gratia payment of difference between compound interest and simple interest by ways of relief for the period from 1st March 2020 to 31st August 2020 to borrowers in specified loan accounts – The case of the petitioner, who had taken housing loan was fully covered by Order dated 23.10.2020 since the benefit was available to the housing loan upto Rs.2 Crores – Petitioner expressed his satisfaction on the measures taken by the Central Government – In view thereof, writ petition disposed of. Disposing of the Writ Petition, the Court HELD: 1. The pandemic COVID-19 has not only caused serious threat to the health of the people but has also cast its shadow on the economic growth of the country as well as other countries in the entire world. Due to lockdown imposed by the Government of India, most of the businesses including private sector as well as public sector has been adversely affected. For several months, large number of industries were not allowed to [2020] 13 S.C.R. 835 835 A B C D E F G H 836 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2020] 13 S.C.R. function and exemptions were granted only to few of the industries to run and carry on its activities, which were found essential and necessary in the fact situation. Although, gradually, due to Unlock- 1, 2 and 3, the industries and other business activities have been restored and the economy of the country is on track although at a slow pace. The moratorium period as granted by the Reserve Bank of India by orders dated 27.03.2020 and 23.05.2020 have continued from 01.03.2020 to 31.08.2020, i.e., for the period 16 of six months. As reflected by the affidavits filed on behalf of the Union of India, Central Government was fully conscious of the difficulties faced by various sectors and different measures by Finance Ministry have been taken. [Para 9][842-C-F] 2. The case of the petitioner, who has taken housing loan is fully covered by the decisions of the Union of India, since the benefit has been extended to the housing loan upto Rs.2 Crores, i.e., in pursuance of the decisions of the Government of India, the Ministry of Finance had issued order dated 23.10.2020 – Operational Guidelines with regard to COVID-19 Reliefs.The Union of India having taken specific measures by its circular dated 23.10.2020, and follow-up measures have also been taken in consequence thereof, the respondents are directed to ensure that all steps be taken to implement the decision dated 23.10.2020 so that benefit as contemplated by the Government of India percolates to those for whom the financial benefits have been envisaged and extended. [Paras 11, 14][844-C-D; 846-G-H; 847-A] CIVIL ORIGINAL JURISDICTION: Writ Petition (Civil) No. 825 of 2020 (Under Article 32 of the Constitution of India) Tushar Mehta, SG, N. Venkatraman, ASG, Rajiv Dutta, V. Giri, Harish Salve, Mukul Rohatgi, Huzefa Ahmadi, Sr. Advs., Kumar Dushyant Singh, Siddharth Dutta, Devesh Chauvia, Rahul Sharma, Utsav Trivedi, Chirag Shah, Abhinay, Ms. Pragya Wal, Himanshu Sachdeva, Ms. Srishti Kumar, Ashok Panigrahi, Rajat Nair, Kanu Agrawal, Ms. Sansriti Pathak, B.V. Balram Das, Ms. Anil Katiyar, Ramesh Babu M. R., Ms. Manisha Singh, Ms. Nisha Sharma, Sanjay Kapur, V.M. kannan, Ms. Megha A B C D E F G H 837 Karnwal, Sambit Panja, Nishi Chaudhary, Manjeet Kirpal, Yashartha, Arnav Narain, Vinayak Bhandari, Abhimanyu Bhandari, Ms. Roohe Hina Dua, Cheitanya Madan, Mahesh Agarwal, Vijayesh Atre, Ankur Saigal, Rohan Sharma, E.C. Agrawala, K. Rajeev, Shinoj K. Narayanan, Bijo Mathew Joy, Biswajit Das, Abhig
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