THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The incident in which a mother and her daughter immolated themselves after a nationalised bank served a notice of property attachment due to non-repayment of loan has again brought forth the question of the applicability of the Securitization and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Securities Interest (SARFAESI) Act.
Though the state Assembly itself had constituted an ad hoc committee to look into the impact of the SARFAESI Act, the report is yet to come out. The state had witnessed a number of protests and suicides due to the enforcement of the said act by financial institutions. “The ad hoc committee is in the process of hearing the complaints of people who fell victim to the SARFAESI Act. It might take another three months to come out with a report regarding the impact of the said act on the state,” said S Sharma, who heads the committee.
According to him, the committee could so far conduct only one sitting as the declaration of elections forced it to postpone further sittings. It was in December that Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan announced the constitution of the said committee to examine the scenario precipitated by the implementation of the Act across the state. Then he had stated the committee would have to submit its report within six months.
Speaking to Express, Sharma said the basic consideration of the committee will be to come out with remedies to address the issues being faced by the layman due to the act.
According to him, though the state does not have the constitutional power to overcome a Central Act, the committee will explore the options to alleviate the plight of the defaulters who usually end up on the street due to the enforcement of the said act. He also added it would examine if the state could do something.