The Joint Director of Cooperatives is inquiring into allegations of irregularities against the chairman of South Canara District Central Cooperative Bank M.N. Rajendra Kumar. Further steps will be taken after getting replies to the allegations, said Cooperation Minister S.T. Somashekar here on Sunday.
“There is a well laid down procedure for taking action (on allegations against office bearers of Cooperative institutions). We have to get reply. This reply can be accepted or rejected before initiating action,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the inauguration of Aatmashakti Soudha of Aatmashakti Multipurpose Cooperative Society Ltd. at Padil.
During his address in Bharatiya Janata Party’s Janaswaraj Yathre in Udupi and Mangaluru in November last year, Mr. Somashekar said ₹19 lakh was being transferred every month from the SCDCC Bank to Navodaya Grama Vikasa Charitable Trust, of which Mr. Kumar is the Managing Trustee. The Registrar of Cooperative Societies has the power to disqualify him from being a member of the Board under Section 29C of the Karnataka Cooperative Societies Act, the Minister had said. Following this allegation, Mr. Kumar opted out from contesting as an independent candidate in the Legislative Council polls from the local authority constituency of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi.
Earlier, in his speech at the inauguration programme, the Minister said it is because of fraudulent practices of four cooperative banks that the remaining 256 cooperative banks are also being viewed with suspicion.
Appreciating the way Aatmashakti Multipurpose Cooperative Society Limited was disbursing loans, recovering loans and collecting deposits, Mr. Somashekar said people keenly observe these aspects before coming forward to transact with such institutions. “Sanctioning loan to relatives without looking at their creditworthiness will bring disrepute to cooperative banks,” he said.
The Minister said the 21 District Cooperative Banks in this fiscal so far have disbursed ₹14 crore loan to 20 lakh farmers. “I have given them a target to disburse ₹20,810 crore to 30.86 lakh farmers by March 25 this year,” he said. Mr. Somashekar said in his tenure so far appointments have been made to 3,000 vacant posts in different cooperative organizations. The remaining 2,000-odd posts, which includes 70 posts in the Dakshina Kannada Cooperative Milk Producers Union, will be filled shortly, he said.
The Minister earlier inaugurated Aatmashakti Soudha, the main office of Aatmashakti Multipurpose Cooperative Society Limited that completed 10 years of its operation. Member of Parliament Nalin Kumar Kateel, MLC and District Congress President K. Harish Kumar, Social Welfare Minister Kota Srinivas Poojary, and Mayor Premanand Shetty participated in the function.
