Bank can’t deny education loan due to low marks:

madras high court says|

Banks cannot deny educational loan to students on the grounds that his or her academic record is poor, the madras high court has ruled.

"The bank cannot deny educational loan on the ground that the academic record of the petitioner at the school level was very poor," said Justice D Hariparanthaman in order on a writ petition of a Scheduled Caste girl. He added, "There's no such provision in the circular of the bank that the loan can be sanctioned only if the academic performance of the student was very good at the school level."

Justice Hariparanthaman further said, "I have noted in my earlier order dated September 15, 2010, that Dr B R Ambdekar obtained only 287 marks out of 750 in the matriculation examinations and his educational need was taken care of by King of Baroda on the ground that he belongs to scheduled caste."

Noting that the Union government had introduced the educational loan scheme to help the economically weaker sections and not even a third party guarantee was required for disbursement of loans up to Rs 4 lakh, Justice Hariparanthaman asked the Punjab National Bank to sanction educational loan to the student within four weeks.

The matter relates to a writ petition of Anitha, a nursing student from Vellore district. Although she cleared her plus two in 2005, she was unable to continue her higher education due to family circumstances and poor health condition of her mother. Later, she joined BSc (nursing) at Noorie College of Nursing in Kolar district in Karnataka. She applied for an education loan for Rs 3.15 lakh. But, the Punjab National Bank rejected her application on the ground that her academic performance at the school level was poor.

The bank, however, justified the denial of educational loan to Anitha, stating that it had been provided for in the bank's circular. Referring to earlier orders of the court, the judge said the circular could not go beyond such orders.