Maharashtra Cooperative Minister Harshvardhan Patil announced that the government would soon enact a strict law to curb irregularities in the cooperative sector.
He informed members of the Legislative Council that the new law would help create confidence among the people about the cooperative banks, which lost their credibility due to financial irregularities.
Replying to a discussion on scams in Pen Urban bank and cooperative banks under section 97, he said, ‘Properties of banks and credit cooperative societies will be seized, if they lost investors money. We are going to change 1960’s cooperative law by all means.’ There should be separate law for Cooperative Banks, Housing societies, Credit Cooperative Societies and other cooperative sector. The directors of faulty banks and societies will be barred from the entire cooperative institutions. Under the new law, government would make all the provisions for punishing the scamsters, he added.
He said there are more than 635 cooperative banks in the state, out of which 35 banks have been merged in other banks. The government has taken legal action against 18 banks, whereas 11 banks have got administrators. Scrutiny of 31 banks are in the last stage and government will take decision very soon about these banks, Mr Patil said.
Earlier, Jayant Patil of Shetkari Kamgar Party alleged that the government’s policy aimed at closing cooperative sector. Pen Urban Bank scandal is one of the examples of this system, he said.
Arun Gujrathi of NCP, S Q Jama, Rajan Teli, Parshuram Uparkar, Ramnath Mote and Husain Dalwai participated in the debate. UNI
