MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court on Tuesday sought a reply from the central and state governments on a PIL filed seeking the establishment of a dedicated State-Level Financial Hub in Tamil Nadu, to ensure proper disbursal of central funds allocated for the benefit of the Scheduled Caste community in TN.
C. Selvakumar, an advocate from Madurai, stated in his petition that due to the absence of a strong institutional mechanism, such as a Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) at the State level, a substantial amount of funds allocated by the central government to the Scheduled Caste community was not being properly disbursed to eligible beneficiaries.
Citing an RTI information obtained from the Tamil Nadu Adi Dravidar Housing and Development Corporation (TAHDCO) in October last year, he said, "TAHDCO does not have a mechanism to directly disburse loan amounts, and beneficiaries are required to depend upon commercial banks. However, commercial banks generally insist upon collateral security, and therefore many eligible Scheduled Caste applicants are denied credit facilities, and the funds allotted for the welfare of the community remain unutilised."
Pointing out that many states have established government-owned financial institutions for better implementation of central government schemes for weaker sections, he sought the above direction.
A bench of justices N Sathish Kumar and R Jothiraman directed the government counsels to get instructions from the authorities concerned and adjourned the case to March 30.