Damocles’ sword; Souharda up in arms against Minister’s statement

The co-operators associated with the Souharda cooperatives of Karnataka are up in arms ever since State Cooperation Minister K N Rajanna has made a statement in the state assembly revealing the government’s desire to abolish the state level federation known as Karnataka State Souharda Federal Cooperative. Rajanna has talked of poor governance as the reason for the possible move.

Rajanna had told the state Assembly that the government is likely to abolish the federation of self-regulated Sahakari Souharda institutions due to poor governance. The minister said Karnataka has more than 5,000 Souharda Sahakari bodies out of which 1,500 are on the “verge of closure. Rajanna was responding to a calling-attention motion by Basavanagudi BJP MLA Ravi Subramanya.

Unnerved by the statement, the office bearers of Karnataka State Souharda Federal Cooperative are discussing the matter and seeking time to meet the state cooperation minister. They were supposed to meet the minister on Wednesday but due to his busy schedule the meeting could not take place.

Talking to the Indian Cooperative, KSSFL CEO Sharanagouda Patil said, “The Souharda Federation is seized of the matter. It is patently wrong to say Souharda cooperatives are running in losses and indulging in fraud with the money of the depositors”, he added.

Explaining the checks and balances employed by the Fed, the CEO said “We are taking stringent action against those Souharda cooperatives which are involved in irregularities or indulging in fraud with public money.”

Patil also explained that it is not so that the state govt has no control over Souharda co-ops. He added that the state cooperative department has the right of their registration, right to cancel their license, dispute handling, election and other administrative work of these societies. Souharda co-ops are having dual control”, he added.

He further said that there are 6100 souharda cooperatives in Karnataka out of which around 4000 are in good financial condition.

Udaya Souharda Credit Co-operative Ltd CEO Srikanth said, “The government intends to take the control of Souharda cooperatives which are totally against the cooperative principles. We are opposing the statement given by the minister in the state assembly.

The minister’s statement came in the backdrop of several Souharda co-ops grabbing the media headlines for violation of prescribed norms and for their involvement in irregularities.

Earlier in January this year, Union Minister Amit Shah had visited the office of Karnataka State Souharda Federation (KSSFCL) and interacted with cooperators on various co-op issues. Shah, among others, was accompanied by Basavaraj Bommai CM and S.T. Someshekhar, Minister for Cooperation.

The recent statement of Rajanna is being seen by some, more as a political statement than a practical one. Souharda has been largely controlled by those owing allegiance to Sahakar Bharati and the Congress govt is keen to have its own control over the co-op body, which is a unique cooperative institution in India.