Guilty banks.

IT has been observed recently that banks are asking the banking courts under Section 51(e) CPC, read with Section 151, to block the CNIC of the borrower who has been unable to satisfy the decree of the said courts. This is totally repugnant to Article 8 of the Constitution which guarantees fundamental rights of the citizens.

This is tantamount to awarding the death sentence, as without a functional CNIC one becomes a useless citizen of the state having no right to earn a livelihood.

As per the procedure of the banking courts, banks file suit of recovery against defaulters under the Financial Institutions Recovery Ordinance 2001, and the courts award decree against the borrower if they feel convinced. The banks then file for the execution of the decree through the banking court. This leads to two situations: one, if the bank has securities enough to get the decree satisfied, there is no further action and the bank gets its financing through the sale of such securities; two, if the decree is in excess of the sum of financing by the bank, coercive actions are taken by the bank through court orders/actions. Here...