A wilful defaulter of a Rs. 9, 000 crore bank loan can be a member of parliament but a poor student who had defaulted on education loan due to economic/family circumstances is barred from applying for a clerical job in State Bank of India (SBI), which is obnoxious, said a top bank union leader.
After naming and shaming education loan defaulters, SBI is now preventing them from applying for clerical job in the bank which is patently wrong, said a top bank union official.
"The SBI in its notification for hiring junior associates and junior agricultural associates has barred candidates with record of default in repayment of loans/credit card dues or against whose name adverse report of CIBIL or other external agencies are available from applying for the job, " C. H. Venkatachalam, general secretary, All India Bank Employees' Association (AIBEA) told IANS.
"Candidates against whom there is/are adverse report regarding character & antecedents, moral turpitude are not eligible to apply for the post, " SBI notification said.
"The SBI's condition is obnoxious and unfair and has to be changed. The economy is not doing well and as a result the corporate loans are turning bad or non - peforming assets (NPA). As a result, freshers are not able to get a job and unemployment is high, " Venkatachalam said.
It is ironical that Vijay Mallya owes around Rs. 9, 000 crore to SBI and other banks is a MP despite being declared by banks as wilful defaulter but a poor student who might have defaulted on loan for genuine reason is prevented from applying for a clerical job by SBI, Venkatachalam remarked.
"A fresh graduate cannot repay his education loan if he does not get a job. And if hiring organisations like SBI bar such candidates even from applying then how can they repay their loans. Normally a fresher will only have education loan against his name, " he added.
"Genuine borrowers will be affected by SBI's condition. In fact, banks do not maintain their accounts and there has been cases where a student who has not completed his course has been classified as NPA by the banks, " K. Srinivasan, convenor, Education Loan Task Force (ELTF) told IANS.
According to Srinivasan, education loans are classified as NPA's for non - payment of interest subsidy by the central government.
The ELTF guides students on rules and regulations governing education loans offered by nationalised banks free of cost.
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