bankers A stakeholder conference organized by the government on November 17-18 to address issues related to credit flow to various sectors of the economy will seek a more robust framework to protect them from any undue vigilance action in genuine commercial decisions.

Industry chambers and financial institutions including Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) have been invited to the conference.

A senior bank executive told ET that a representation has been given to the bank. Finance Ministry on this count.

Apart from the finance ministry, senior officials from other ministries will also be a part of this stakeholder conference and provide information about the projects in the pipeline in their respective regions. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will meet private sector, financial institutions and other stakeholders including bankers in the two-day meeting.

“We want bankers to be protected under Section 197 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and brought at par with other government officials,” the bank executive said. “We will bring this to the notice of the Finance Minister.”

Under section 197, the court cannot take cognizance of a criminal charge against a public servant unless there is prior sanction from the authority competent to prosecute him.

This step has been taken by the Rajasthan Police in the background of arresting the former Chairman of State Bank of India. Pratip Chowdhary Regarding complaint of loan defaulter.

The government had recently issued a circular that laid down the standard operating procedure for processing cases under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act. As per the guidelines, any police inquiry on decisions taken by public servants in the discharge of their duties requires prior permission from the competent authority.

Another bank official said, “These guidelines have been violated and hence it is necessary to put in place a more robust framework.

Last month, the finance ministry had advised state-run lenders to adopt comprehensive guidelines on ’employee accountability framework for NPA accounts up to ₹50 crore (other than fraud cases)’. The new guidelines are aimed at ensuring speedy delivery of vigilance cases keeping in view the past track record of the employees along with the safety of bank employees taking commercial decisions.