Bhopal: Orphaned Topper Gets Loan Recovery Notice Of Rs 29 Lakh, Finance Minister Swings Into Action

Vanisha Pathak, a Bhopal orphan who scored 99.8 per cent in her class 10 exams, struggles with legal notices on a home loan her father had taken. The teenager had topped the exam within months of losing her parents to COVID-19.

The father of the 17-year-old was an LIC agent and had taken a loan from his office. Since she is a minor, LIC has blocked all his savings and the commissions he would get every month. Pathak said that she has written several times to the authorities to give her time to repay the loan, but there is silence from the other end.

She started receiving legal notices in her father's name to pay the dues or 'be ready to face legal action'. Pathak received the last legal notice on February 2 this year, to repay Rs 29 lakh.

Finance Minister Swings Into Action

As soon as the news of the COVID orphan being troubled by loan agents came out, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman swung into action and asked the Department of Financial Services and Life Insurance Corporation officials to take up the case.

"Please look into this. Also brief on the current status," Sitharaman tweeted.

The local LIC officials were quoted as saying that her application had been sent to the central office, but Pathak said she had not received any intimation about the same, The Times of India reported.

"He was my agent. Vanisha's uncle sent an application and I have forwarded it to the higher authorities. Though there was nothing in writing, I informed the family that they will not get any further notices until she completes 18 years of age," LIC's development officer Sanjay Barnwal was quoted as saying.

Pathak's parents died of COVID in May last year during the devastating second wave of the pandemic. Fighting through shock and agony, she looked at her younger brother and decided she had to fight, eventually scoring a nearly perfect 100 on her Class 10 board. She is now in the care of her maternal uncle, Professor Ashok Sharma.

While the schoolgirl was fighting off fate, the legal notices about her father's dues came as a shock.

In her letters to LIC, she wrote: "My father was a member of Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT) club, a renowned insurance club. Both my father Jeetendra Pathak and mother Seema Pathak passed away due to Covid in May 2021. I and my 11-year-old brother Vivan are minors and Covid orphans. Since we are underage, all my father's policies and his monthly commissions could not be withdrawn as per the rule. With all of the economic and financial income sources blocked, we have no source of income. Thus, all the repayment of the debts can be done only when I turn 18."

However, LIC has not even responded to her letters.

"I am taking care of both children and do not have the resources to repay such high dues. Jeetendra was a big-league LIC agent and it was expected that the company would reciprocate. We have not received any letter from LIC that they have considered our request," the teenager's uncle said.

Help Pours In

Meanwhile, help poured in on Sunday for the Class 10 topper.

Social media platforms were abuzz, and people from across the country offered to help. Many suggested a policy to help out kids in such a predicament, others offered to pay off the loan or sponsor her education.

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