The Union Finance Ministry has forwarded a complaint by Darshan A. Naik, General Secretary of the Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee, to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), seeking urgent action over alleged violations of the 10-year tenure cap for cooperative bank directors mandated under the Banking Laws (Amendment) Act, 2025.
In his letter to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on September 1, Naik accused the Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Gujarat, of ignoring repeated representations and allowing directors who have already served more than 10 years to continue in office.
He cited a Rajya Sabha reply by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, noting that 145 out of 169 cooperative banks in Gujarat have not enforced the new tenure rule.
Responding to the complaint, the Finance Ministry on September 23 directed the RBI to examine the matter under its legal and policy framework, take necessary action, and provide a reply both to the complainant and to the Ministry via email.
The referral has put the spotlight on Gujarat’s cooperative banks, where tenure violations by directors raise questions of governance, accountability, and depositor safety.
