Published at: The Daily Star, February 07, 2019
The central bank may hold a meeting with the law minister, the attorney general and judges to take their opinion on how to amend the existing laws with a view to clamping down on habitual defaulters.
At a meeting with the central bank yesterday, the chief executive officers of private banks proposed the Bangladesh Bank to sit with the people in the judiciary. The BB agreed to the proposal, meeting sources said.
BB Governor Fazle Kabir presided over the meeting, where Bangladesh Law Commission Chairman ABM Khairul Haque and Bangladesh International Arbitration Centre CEO Muhammad A (Rumee) Ali were also present.
The willful defaulters frequently file writs with the High Court to evade falling into the default zone.
So, banks will be able to secure help from the people in the judiciary if the meeting is organised, Syed Mahbubur Rahman, chairman of the Association of Bankers, Bangladesh, told reporters after the meeting.
The central bank has recently started working on amending three acts — the Bankruptcy Act, 1997, the Artha Rin Adalat Ain 2003 and the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 – to rein in the rising default loans.
Habitual defaulters should be barred from obtaining or renewing passports, purchasing land and getting licence for vehicles by way of amending the laws, Rahman said.
“The existing Bankruptcy Act has already failed to nab defaulters because of loopholes. So, the authorities should amend it immediately.” Some of the provisions of the Artha Rin Adalat Ain should be amended soon to recover the default loans, he added.
