Amid charges of countenancing nepotism in cooperative banks by the opposition parties, the Kerala government promulgated an ordinance to bring in amendments to the Kerala Cooperative Societies Act.
The ordinance spells out dissolution of Boards of Directors of all the district central cooperative banks in the state counting 14 . Under the circumstances , either an administrative committee or an administrator would be appointed by the RoC.
The govt argues that the primacy of PACS in the running of DCCBs has almost ended with the introduction of large scale non- credit cooperative societies as voters. Though PACS have major shares (49%) in DCCBs they have not enough representation in the activities of DCCBs.
Congress has called it opportunistic and blatant. It is aimed at controlling these banks and populating them with “their” own men, they allege.
Giving details of the amendments, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told reporters that the societies other than PAC’s would be given nominal membership but would not have voting rights, quotes PTI.
In the past,the UDF government led by Congress allowed all co-op societies as voters in the DCCBS. Out of the 11759 societies affiliated to 14 District Co-operative Banks, the number of PACS is 1670. PACS’ deposits are not suitably matched by their numbers.
Total Deposit in the District Co-operative Banks is Rs 52455, out of which PACS pitch in Rs 26066 crore, which constitute 49.69 per cent of the total deposits.
