Tk 5.37b stuck up in 0.2m certificate cases

A whopping amount of Tk 5.37 billion remains stuck up against 0.2 million certificate cases filed by six state-run banks against default borrowers of agriculture loan, sources said.
The figure reflected the scenario of certificate cases at the end of November last. In November alone, some 4,064 cases were filed against the defaulters.
Central bank data shows that during the January 1991- November 2013 period, warrants against 10,756 pending cases, involving Tk 284 million, remained unattended as the default borrowers could not be traced in the addresses they used in loan documents.  
The Bangladesh Krishi Bank (BKB) has the highest number of 89,793 cases pending involving Tk 2.58 billion. The bank filed 1,561 fresh cases in November last.
Some 28,265 certificate cases of Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank involving Tk 1.19 billion remained pending until November last with filing of 1,061 more fresh cases.
The Sonali Bank has 21,631 pending certificates cases involving Tk 523 million. In November, the bank filed 170 fresh cases and settled 187 cases.
Besides, some 23,284 certificate cases involving Tk 547 million of the Janata Bank remained pending until November last. The bank also filed 305 fresh cases in the month against the defaulters.
The Agrani Bank has 33,713 pending certificate cases against the farmers involving Tk 484 million. It filed 967 new cases and settled 360 cases in November.
Some 3,151 cases of the Rupali Bank involving Tk 37 million remained pending until November last. According to the central bank data, no pending certificate case was settled or fresh case was filed during the month.
Managing director of BKB Abdus Salam told the FE Tuesday that due to the absence of adequate number of magistrates at the district level the cases remain pending for years.
He said the magistrates have many other engagements. So, they cannot give enough time in the courts to settle the cases.
Mr Salam said the number of defaulters continues to increase with the rise in the number of borrowers rise.
"Farmers are not even getting enough prices to meet production costs. Besides, many other factors make them loser. So, they fail to pay the money back," he said.
The BKB managing director said: "We are not aggressive enough to recover the money by forcing them. When they become defaulter, we file cases, but give them time to settle these amicably."
Mr Salam said many poor borrowers migrate to the cities and the capital after taking loans or failing to repay. So, many warrants remain unattended failing to trace out the borrowers.
Amid the situation during the July-September period of the current fiscal (FY) year, credit disbursement to the agriculture sector shot up by 24.82 per cent compared to the corresponding period of the previous FY 2012-13.
The government set the credit disbursement target for agriculture sector at Tk 145.95 billion for the current fiscal year.