The Supreme Court on Friday declined to direct the Centre and the RBI to grant any fresh financial stimulus or moratorium on loans during the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, saying it is in the realm of policy decision.

“The government has many things to do. They have to spend money on vaccine, they have to spend money on migrant labourers. We cannot do it like this,” the apex court said, adding that it is for the Centre and the RBI to consider the issue.

“These are all in the realm of policy decision. These are issues having financial implications and we are not the experts,” a bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan and M R Shah told advocate Vishal Tiwari, who has filed the petition.

The top court was hearing the plea that sought directions to the Centre and the RBI to take effective measures, including fresh loan moratorium, to address the financial stress of borrowers during the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

During the hearing, Tiwari referred to the reports on how the second wave of the pandemic has affected the Indian economy and said the situation is much worse as compared with last year.

The bench noted in its order that the petitioner has also annexed last month’s circular by which the RBI had issued a resolution of Covid-19 related stress for micro, Ssmall and medium enterprises.

“The petitioner appearing in person submits that the circular does not sufficiently address the hardship of the borrowers. Be that as it may, financial relief is in the domain of the government and essentially related to policy matter,” the order said.