Government issues norms to protect bankers when bonafide decisions go wrong

Seeking to protect honest bank employees, the government has come out with the ‘staff accountability framework’ under which officers concerned will not be hauled up in case bonafide decisions involving loans up to Rs 50 crore go wrong. The framework will cover only genuine decisions and not those involving malfeasance or malafide intentions, according to the norms issued by the finance ministry. It specifies details and the procedures to be followed for scrutinising such acts of omission and commission on the part of bank officials concerned. To save them from unnecessary hassle, the framework also provides for resolution of such cases against bankers. “Banks must initiate and complete staff accountability exercise within six months from the date of classification of the account as NPA,” the ministry said.