Page 110 - A Banker Down the Rabbit Hole

32. Contesting a charge of

negligence

T here was an account where the borrower had stopped paying

installments after a year. No installment had been paid for
more than 2 years in this account. I checked the file and found
that every branch manager had met the borrower and
guarantor and got their balance confirmations and written assurances to
repay the overdue installments more than once but the repayment was
never made.

I also approached him. He expressed inability to repay as the business
was very bad but he assured that as and when he would have the surplus
he would deposit. I made enquiries from other inhabitants of the area
as to how much loss that particular borrower might have suffered. People
were surprised about loss and informed that he was making good money
for so many years in that business.

It was clearly a case of willful default and I decided to file suit against
him as he could not be relied in light of what had come to our notice on
field visit. I moved a proposal to the Zonal Office recommending filing
of a suit detailing out all steps taken already by the branch for recovery.

The Head Office team wrote back to Zonal Manager that there is severe
lack of follow-up in the advance account at branch level that led to the
protracted default and the accountability should be fixed on officers
responsible. Zonal Office passed on the letter from Head Office to us for
our comments and suitable explanation.

I wrote back to Zonal Office the whole sequence of events by giving serial
number to each action taken as follow up along with details of bank

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