When banks said no, compassion won: Cancer patient’s fight for his son’s education gets help from HC, lawyers, and SG

A cancer patient, already under great financial pressure due to his long treatment, had approached the Delhi High Court after Canara Bank refused to give an extra loan of Rs 10 lakh. The loan was needed in addition to the Rs 55 lakh education loan already provided for his son’s master’s degree in business analytics from a university in New York.

The bank said no, following RBI rules. These rules say a bank cannot give the full loan amount (which was Rs 58 lakh in this case) without the borrower putting in 15% margin money when the loan is for studies abroad. The father had already given his flat in Rohini as security to get the initial loan. His son needed Rs 10 lakh more to pay the final fee instalment to complete his degree.

The court appointed senior lawyer Nalin Kohli as amicus curiae, a legal helper, to find a way out of this difficult financial problem. The father, who had lost his vocal cord during cancer treatment, told Kohli he could arrange only Rs 2 lakh. Kohli himself promised to add another Rs 2 lakh. But even then, it was not enough, leaving everyone feeling upset.

Feeling sad that his first task as amicus curiae was not helping the family, Kohli shared the story with Solicitor General Tushar Mehta when they met in the Supreme Court corridors. After hearing about the family’s difficulties, Mehta kindly offered to pay the full Rs 10 lakh needed for the son, Puneet Singh, to complete his course.

Mehta understood how hard it was for the cancer patient to even arrange Rs 2 lakh, so he decided to cover the whole amount.

Thanks to this generous help, Puneet can now finish his master’s degree at Hofstra University, New York. When Kohli told the Delhi High Court about this, Justice Vikas Mahajan formally recorded Mehta’s contribution and appreciated the help from Kohli and the bank’s lawyer Garima Jain before closing the case.

Inputs from TOI