Kerala High Court stays loan recovery proceedings against persons affected by 2024 Wayanad landslide

The Kerala High Court on Wednesday ordered that all loan recovery proceedings against persons affected by the 2024 Wayanad landslide be kept in abeyance until a petition in the matter is disposed of.

Issuing an interim order, the division bench of Justices AK Jayasankaran Nambiar and Jobin Sebastian criticised the Union government for refusing to consider a waiver of bank loans availed by persons affected by the July 2024 landslide.

At least 400 persons were killed in a landslide triggered by heavy rain in the Meppadi area in Wayanad district.

On Wednesday, the bench described the government’s stance on the matter as “unfortunate” and a failure to uphold the right to life and dignity under Article 21 of the Constitution.

“Having lost their lands, and their means of livelihood, in the devastating landslide, they are now being called upon to repay the loans availed by them for agricultural and related purposes when the very property that they had offered as collateral security while availing those loans has ceased to exist,” the bench observed.

This was “nothing short of an affront to their dignity”, the court said.

“By refusing to exercise a power that they have, in a situation that calls for the exercise of that power, we are of the view that the Union government has...

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