Kozhikode: For almost two hours, she travelled in a car with two strangers, who posed as staff of State Bank of India (SBI) and accompanied her till Nadapuram from Puthiyangadi in Kozhikode and all of a sudden she realised that the men were not staff of SBI, but recovery agents, who assist the banks in taking possession of the assets in dispute.
Soon after realising her mistake, Advocate Commission P. Sheni, who was deputed by the Chief Judicial Magistrate for the recovery, on a petition by the bank, objected to going ahead with the proceedings and complained against the bank.
“The two men, posed as officials from the SBI and another, their driver, joined me from Puthiyangadi on January 20 at 6.30. They told me that we had to reach Nadapuram, where the borrower is staying, as early as possible and before he takes the car elsewhere. I agreed, and we reached Nadapuram in almost two hours. After entering the town, these men could not locate the exact place of the residence of the borrower, Rajesh Kallatt. Then they asked me for a copy of the petition, which would have the address details. Then I doubted if they were bank officials. Usually, the officials would have all the loan statements with them, starting with the approval,” says Ms Sheni.
The team could not meet Mr Kallat at his residence as he had gone to Wayanad. Ehen the advocate contacted him, he promised to reach there in less than an hour. “The men were impatient and told me that they can break the glasses of the car and proceed with the recovery, which I objected. We waited till the borrower arrived home but they rudely interfered when I was talking to him. Then Rajesh told me that I was cheated, and those who accompanied me were not bank officials but recovery agents,” she said.
Meanwhile, Mr Kallat said he had already transferred the required amount of Rs 90, 000 to his loan account and the bank did not check that. Fearing legal complications, he did not proceed with any other complaint and avoided further comments on the issue.
New-generation banks give them a free run
The ‘recovery agents’ or ‘resolution agents’ whom the banks rely on for asset recovery are having a free run in the state. New-generation banks, as well as the nationalised banks, are depending on such firms, mostly run by retired bank managers. Also, these agencies would have close links with politicians, police and advocates and rarely such incidents of forcible recovery come to light.
“In the past five years, no case has been registered at the court here on the forcible recovery of assets or recovery agents. Their links are so strong that even the political parties fail to address the issue in public. Mostly the owners of these agencies would be retired bank managers. Almost six years ago, DYFI had destroyed some new generation banks for forceible recovery. That is the only known case, where a recent reaction took place against these agents,” said criminal lawyer M. S. Saji, who appeared for the advocate commission, where the SBI was involved.
“The banks are keen on timely recovery of the assets of the poor people while they are blind to the non performing assets of the wealthy. My intention was to bring to light the double standards of these banks,” said advocate commission P. Sheni.
