The Supreme Court of India has provided critical relief to an Uttarakhand resident, Rajendra Singh Panwar, whose financial life was paralyzed for years due to a “negative” credit score despite having no history of loan defaults. A bench comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and KV Viswanathan successfully navigated a complex bureaucratic error involving duplicated Permanent Account Numbers (PAN) that had erroneously linked Panwar to the defaults of others.
The legal battle began when Rajendra Singh Panwar moved the apex court, highlighting that since 2020, his CIBIL records showed an adverse credit history. This 3-digit numeric summary, which banks use to gauge creditworthiness, was consistently low or “negative,” effectively barring him from accessing any credit facilities or financial services.
The root of the issue was a rare administrative anomaly: two other individuals sharing the same name as the petitioner had been issued the same PAN number. Consequently, the payment defaults committed by these third parties were being reflected in Panwar’s credit profile.
Even after Panwar obtained a new, unique PAN to distance himself from the errors, the problem persisted. The “high-risk” status followed him because the credit reporting systems had linked the history of the old, compromised PAN to his new identity.
To resolve the impasse, the Supreme Court sought direct responses from major financial institutions, including the State Bank of India (SBI) and Punjab National Bank (PNB). The court’s objective was to verify whether Panwar himself had ever defaulted on a loan.
The responses from the banks cleared the petitioner’s name:
- Punjab National Bank (PNB): In an affidavit, PNB confirmed it had reported no defaults against Rajendra Singh Panwar and stated that their records reflected no adverse credit information regarding him.
- State Bank of India (SBI): The bank clarified that its reporting to CIBIL was strictly limited to the actual facilities Panwar had availed, which were correctly linked to his updated PAN details and showed no discrepancy.
Following these high-level clarifications from the banking institutions, CIBIL informed the Supreme Court that the petitioner’s records have now been formally corrected. This update removes the erroneous “negative” markers, finally restoring Panwar’s creditworthiness and his ability to engage with the financial system.
