The All Odisha Cooperative Leaders’ Association (AOCLA) has submitted a representation to Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi highlighting serious financial irregularities, unauthorized penalty payments, illegal in-charge appointments, and gross financial mismanagement in the Odisha State Cooperative Bank (OSCB).
The association has requested a special audit of the bank and fixation of criminal liability on the responsible officials.
In the representation, AOCLA stated that, as per the directions of the Hon’ble High Court, the Registrar of Cooperative Societies (RCS), Odisha, is presently discharging the responsibilities of the Managing Director of OSCB.
It stated that due to the part-time nature of this arrangement, certain in-charge senior officers, including the CGM (In-Charge) and some other officials, have allegedly taken advantage of the situation and have been functioning in an arbitrary, unaccountable, and unauthorized manner.
The association further stated that these in-charge officers are reportedly drawing excessive remuneration through allowances without lawful approval and are continuing in positions that were expressly rejected by the OSCB Management Committee in its meeting held on September 10, 2025.
AOCLA also pointed out that OSCB has incurred penalties amounting to several lakhs of rupees due to RTGS bounces and failures in ATM dispute settlements.
It stated that these penalty payments raise serious questions regarding internal controls, accountability, and approval mechanisms. The representation mentioned that it is not known whether these penalty payments were ever placed before or approved by the Management Committee, as required under law.
Providing documentary instances, AOCLA stated that on December 19, 2025, an amount of Rs 10.18 lakh was paid to NPCI as a penalty after office hours at 7:06 pm. It further stated that on December 20, 2025, an additional Rs 1 lakh was paid as a penalty, and earlier, on September 30, 2023, a penalty of Rs 11.80 lakh was also paid. According to the association, a total amount of Rs 22.98 lakh has been paid as penalties, causing direct financial loss to the Odisha State Cooperative Bank.
The representation further stated that these penalties are being routinely adjusted under “Penalty GL Statements” without fixing responsibility. It also stated that a budgetary provision of Rs 5 crore has been kept towards ATM withdrawal dispute settlement penalties.
AOCLA raised questions regarding the authority and approval under which these penalty payments were made, whether the Managing Director (In-Charge) and the President of OSCB were informed or had granted prior approval, and how such serious financial irregularities escaped detection during the AGCS Audit and NABARD Audit for the financial year 2023–24.
The association also questioned why criminal, disciplinary, and recovery proceedings have not been initiated against officers responsible for gross negligence, dereliction of duty, and financial misconduct.
In its prayer, AOCLA requested the Chief Minister to order an independent special audit of OSCB, direct immediate examination of all files relating to penalty payments, GL utilization, in-charge appointments, and allowance disbursement, fix personal and criminal liability on the responsible officials, and initiate arrest and prosecution of officers found guilty of financial misconduct, abuse of position, and breach of trust.
