Senior leaders from the Cooperative Sector have urged Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah to initiate steps to repurpose the assets of the Apex Urban Cooperative Bank of Maharashtra & Goa Limited for the Cooperative Sector. They wanted to utilize Apex Urban Cooperative Bank’s Prime Mumbai Property for the Cooperative Sector as senior leaders sought Government action on the defunct Cooperative Bank’s assets.
Those present in the meeting included Union Minister of State for Cooperation Muralidhar Mohol, Sahakar Bharati leader Uday Joshi, Satish Marathe, Sanjay Pachpor, Cosmos Bank Team led by Milind Kale, late Omprakash Deora’s son Sunil Deora, NUCFDC Chairman Jyotindra Mehta, and others.
The de-licensed bank has remained in limbo for over two decades following a 2004 Supreme Court directive that led to its closure. Established by the late Omprakash Deora and Bapurao Pujari with active support from the late Shankarrao Chavan, former Union Home Minister, and the late Gopinathji Munde, former Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, the bank was shut down as regulations permitted only one apex cooperative bank in the state.
Despite its dormant status, the bank still possesses substantial liquid funds and valuable fixed assets, including spacious premises in Mumbai’s prime Fort area.
Cooperative leaders desire that rather than allowing the property to remain unused, it should be utilized for the benefit of the Cooperative Sector.
During a high-level meeting, cooperative leaders raised concerns regarding the pending issues viz refund of share capital refund, recovery matters, court cases following surrender of bank’s licence. While over 50% of the share capital has been refunded to stakeholders, the balance is yet to be returned to many early Shareholders.
The delegation strongly urged Amit Shah to explore alternative options instead of allowing the bank’s assets to remain unused or be liquidated. One key suggestion was to utilize the bank’s premises for training and capacity building activities.
One of the participants in the meeting stated that Amit Shahji listened to our requests very attentively and assured us that the bank’s assets would be used for Cooperative Sector activities.
With the government’s increasing focus on strengthening India’s Cooperative sector, stakeholders are optimistic that a positive resolution will be reached soon.
Further discussions are expected in the coming weeks to formulate plans for the future use of the Apex Urban Cooperative Bank premises.
