PIL in Madras HC seeks DMK govt to fulfill poll promise of education loan waiver

CHENNAI: A public interest litigation was moved before the Madras High Court seeking to direct the ruling DMK government to implement its election poll promise of waiving off the education loans in the State.

T Manimaran of Kanakampalayam, Tirupur, moved the PIL alleging that due to the non-implementation of the poll promise of the DMK party, his daughter and several other students in Tamil Nadu, who had availed education loans, are now facing undue hardship and difficulty in repaying the loan amount.

The petitioner alleged that during the Assembly and Parliamentary elections, all the prominent political parties, including DMK and AIADMK, campaigned by promising that all the education loans availed by the students would be waived if they came to power.

Believing the election promise, several voters, including him, had cast a vote for the DMK party in the hope that their education loans would be waived off, said the petitioner, alleging that the DMK failed to implement the promise once it assumed power, and as a result, several students including my daughter facing hardship.

He also submitted that to provide better education to his daughter, he availed an education loan from a private bank. Though his daughter completed her higher education at Anna University, she couldn't secure employment, said the petitioner, adding that as a result, his family is in a financial crisis and could not repay the loan.

As he could not pay the loan, the collection agents were harassing him and his family using filthy language and threatening them, he noted.

Hence, he sought direction to the Election Commission of India to frame guidelines to prevent the political parties from making false election promises and direct the State to implement its promise by waiving all the education loans.