New Delhi: The Central Government told the Supreme Court on Tuesday that the moratorium period is extendable by two years.
On the last date, the court had directed the Centre to file an affidavit, clearly stipulating its take on the issue of interest payments within a week and listed the case for further consideration on September 1.
In light of this, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told a bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, R. Subhash Reddy & MR Shah that an affidavit had come on record. He also submitted that on the aspect of interests payable on loans during moratorium period, it has been decided that the Central Government and Bankers Association put their heads together on the issue.
Solicitor General further added that as there were many issues and different sectors were undergoing stress, thus it was imperative that stakeholders sit together and decide on the issue.
The Court stated that it had not received the affidavit filed on behalf of the union on record. The law officer thus insisted that the case be taken up a day later.
Initially, the bench seemed disinclined to adjourn the case further but after the Solicitor General prayed the for the bench to peruse the affidavit at length, the matter was adjourned to tomorrow morning at 10.30 am.
Earlier, the Supreme Court had said there was “no merit in charging interest on interest” for deferred loan payment installments during the moratorium period announced in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic & that once moratorium is fixed, it should serve the desired purposes and the government should consider interfering in the matter as it could not leave everything to banks.