A Liquidator has been appointed for winding up the Adarsh Credit Cooperative Society, Union Cooperation and Home Minister Amit Shah said it in a written reply to the question by DMK Member of Parliament from Tamil Nadu N M.Shanmugam on Wednesday.
The DMK MP had sought to know the action on a number of complaints against co-operative credit societies in the matter of embezzlement or diversion of funds by the managing committee or members, during the last three years and whether complaints were received from depositors in the Adarsh Credit Cooperative Society based at Ahmedabad.
It bears recall that a retired IAS officer based in Ahmedabad Mr H S Patel was appointed Liquidator for the beleaguered Adarsh Credit Cooperative Society in December 2018. He was expected to complete the liquidation process by December 2019 but no visible resolution has been noticeable so far, owing to a host of factors being reported in these columns from time to time.
Last month in November 2021, the Ministry of Cooperation extended the term of H S Patel, IAS (Retd) liquidator appointed in the Adarsh Credit Cooperative Society further till 28th November 2022.
In his reply, the Union Cooperation Minister Amit Shah said, “Complaints have been received for non-repayment of funds against some of the multi-State credit cooperative societies. In cases of delinquent societies, action for winding up is taken under section 86 of the Multi-State Cooperative Societies (MSCS) Act, 2002”.
“Complaints have been received regarding non-repayment of deposits from the members/depositors. Various irregularities including embezzlement, siphoning, and diversion of funds, have been reported by multiple law enforcement agencies in the functioning of Adarsh Credit Cooperative Society Ltd. Accordingly, a liquidator has been appointed for winding up of the society”, Shah clarified.
Union Co-operation Minister also shared the list of multi-State credit cooperative societies against whom action for winding up under section 86 of the MSCS Act, 2002 has been taken.
Beginning in Sirohi in Rajasthan, the Adarsh Credit branched off to Haryana and Gujarat with its headquarters in Ahmedabad. More than seventy percent of investors are said to belong to Rajasthan.
The founder chairman of the Adarsh Credit Co-op Mukesh and his family members are alleged to have run Ponzi schemes and floated several fake companies to which they diverted Rs 8400 crore. Twenty lakh people invested Rs 14,682 crore over 8 years in the Adarsh credit society.