Pune: Close on the heels of crisis at PMC Bank, the cooperative department of the Maharashtra government has dismissed the board of directors of Pune-headquartered Shivajirao Bhosale Cooperative Bank Ltd.
The development at the bank, promoted by Anil Shivajirao Bhosale, NCP leader and Member of Maharashtra Legislative Council (MLC), has left around one lakh customers in the lurch.
A special scrutiny conducted by the Reserve Bank of India in April 2019 revealed several “adverse” features and “serious irregularities” in the functioning of the bank, said the order issued by Commissioner of Cooperation Satish Soni on October 9.
The Commissioner of Cooperation and Registrar of Cooperative Societies, in consultation with the RBI, superseded the present board of directors, and appointed Narayan Aghav, district deputy registrar, as administrator, the order said.
Mihir Thatte, member of a group which takes up the cause of depositors of distressed banks, said some one lakh account-holders of Shivajirao Bhosale Cooperative Bank are not being able to withdraw their money at present.
Loans of Rs 300 crore were disbursed by the bank to bogus borrowers at the behest of politicians, bringing about the present crisis, he said.
Recently the RBI appointed imposed restrictions on withdrawal of funds from Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank, which operates in Mumbai and rest of Maharashtra, following discovery of a Rs 4,350 crore scam.
Also read: PMC scandal is a large warning sign to India’s banking system
Yes, I agree with Ashok. RBI should carry out a special audit of all cooperative banks in the country. Thereafter, government should amend the law enabling merger of all cooperative banks, including the ailing ones, into one single bank whose management should be entrusted to reputed professionals.
The government – including those in the states who are normally beholden to the politicians who run these institutions – and the RBI should put the entire cooperative banking system through an MRI scan. My heart tells me they will uncover a great deal of muck.