JS bodies want ADR to recover defaulted loans

Two parliamentary standing committees yesterday held a joint meeting to find out ways to recover huge amount of defaulted loans and stressed introducing alternative disputes resolution (ADR) system to get better results in loan recovery.
On invitation of the parliamentary standing committee on law justice and parliamentary affairs ministry, members of the parliamentary standing committee on finance ministry joined the meeting at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban.
The joint meeting of the committees was the first in Bangladesh's parliamentary history.
The meeting, attended by ruling party and opposition MPs, discussed ADR system as an effective measure to recover defaulted loans of over Tk 20,000 crore. The meeting, however, decided to hold more discussions with stakeholders and among committees to find effective measures to this effect.
On scrutinising the money loan court law (amendment) bill, the parliamentary standing committee on law ministry invited the members of other committee.
"We want to get rid of the culture of defaulting loans. For this we want to ensure practical measures," Suranjit Sengupta, chief of the parliamentary body on law ministry, told The Daily Star after the meeting.
He said, "The two committees held a joint meeting for the first time in the country's parliamentary history."
Suranjit said filing cases against the loan defaulters to recover loans has become uncertain. "We want to introduce alternative dispute resolution system to resolve the problems outside of the courts and to ensure recovery of defaulted loans," he said.
Therefore, on completion of talks with the finance ministry and other stakeholders, the parliamentary body that scrutinised the money loan court law (amendment) bill will recommend for including a new provision in the bill to introduce ADR system, he added.
Suranjit said the parliamentary body on finance ministry will hold talks with the stakeholders including bankers association, owners of sick industries with defaulted loans and will come up with concrete proposals to overcome the situation.
Meanwhile, the standing committee on finance ministry has already formed a sub-committee to work out ways to recover the defaulted loans, he added.
"We will invite the finance ministry to be present at the next joint meeting as well," Suranjit added.
He said only Tk 10,000 crore defaulted loans have been recovered in last 19 years. "The situation cannot be allowed to go on. We want to free the nation from the loan defaulting culture," he stressed.