BackChennai bank refuses to return pledged gold citing Re 1 default
The customer has been running from pillar to post for the past five years to get back the jewels worth around Rs3.50 lakh
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Chennai: Claiming a default of Re1 in repayment of a loan, a co-operative bank in Chennai has allegedly refused to return 138 grams of gold jewels pledged for the loan, prompting the customer to move the Madras high court for relief.
In a petition, C Kumar, a member of the Pallavaram branch of Kancheepuram Central Cooperative Bank, submitted that he had been running from pillar to post for the past five years to get back the jewels worth around Rs3.50 lakh and sought a direction to the bank to return them.
When the plea came up for hearing on Friday, Justice T. Raja recorded the petitioner’s counsel submissions Sathyan and directed the government advocate to get instructions from the authorities within two weeks.
The petitioner said he had taken a loan of Rs1.23 lakh from the bank by pledging 131 grams of gold jewellery on 6 April 2010. In between, he took two fresh loans totalling Rs1.65 lakh by pledging a total of 138 grams of gold. On 28 March 2011, he closed the first loan by settling the amount along with interest and redeemed the 131 grams of jewels. He repaid the two other loans also shortly thereafter, but the bank refused to return the jewels saying there was a balance of Re1 in each of the loans.
Petitioners counsel M. Sathyan said even after repeated requests by the petitioner, the bank refused to release the jewellery or accept payment of pending Re1 for each account. The petitioner submitted that he nurtured a doubt with regard to the safety of his jewels.
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