T’puram: State human rights commission (SHRC) assigned joint registrar to help resolve a loan repayment issue in which a man who mortgaged his residential land and farmland died by suicide in Vithura. The intervention came after the bank refused to pay heed to the family’s request to exempt the house while attaching property.The deceased Rajendran Nair mortgaged five cents of residential land and 42 cents of farmland to obtain a Rs 4.5 lakh loan from State Cooperative Agricultural Development Bank’s Palode branch on March 19, 2016. He later died by suicide on June 29, 2022, after being unable to repay it.SHRC chairperson Justice Alexander Thomas directed the joint registrar of cooperative department to examine whether the debt can be cleared by selling only the 42 cents while excluding the 5 cents on which the house stands.The panel instructed joint registrar to appoint an assistant registrar, issue prior notice to both the complainant and the bank manager, and hear both sides.The assistant registrar has also been asked to consider that the complainant’s husband died by suicide, that the family has two children, and that they are facing severe hardship, and then submit a report to joint registrar. SHRC said joint registrar must arrive at a fair decision.The action followed a complaint filed by Nair’s wife against the bank’s position that the property could be auctioned only as a whole. According to the bank, the outstanding amount is Rs 7,43,644.
