The Goa government has announced that it will direct the Registrar of Co-operative Societies to carry out regular auditing of the multi-state urban co-operative societies in the state, through the auditors, reports an online news outlet.
Co-operation minister Mahadev Naik, told the state assembly that there are altogether 21 such societies registered in Goa, four of them having registered after 2013.
According to the minister, the Central Registrar being the regulating body for all the multi-state co-operative societies the state government has limited powers and can only carry out the inspection of the account books of these societies.
Answering a related query from a member of the house, the minister said these societies have their own managements, which are entitled to fix the interest charged by them on the loans provided to the customers.
The Minister for Industries, told the house that some of such co-operative banks are controlled by the Reserve Bank of India, while others by the Central registrar. The government will try to amend the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act, 2002, so as to prevent acts of financial frauds in such institutions, he said.
Cooperation minister Naik said most of the manpower in the multi-state urban co-operative societies in the state comprises of Goans, with the Mapusa Urban Co-operative Bank having 224 employees, the Goa State Co-operative Bank having 657 employees, while the Lokmanya Multipurpose Co-operative Society having 288 employees.