Tamil Nadu - Tiruchi   

Coop. bank depositors defer agitation

By Our Staff Reporter

TIRUCHI, MARCH 15. The Thiruvanaikovil Cooperative Urban Bank Depositors' Welfare Association today deferred its agitation following an assurance from the officials concerned to initiate steps for refund of deposits within a month.

A decision to this effect was taken at tripartite talks held between representatives of the association, officials of Revenue and Cooperative departments here on Saturday.

Irked over `inordinate delay' in refund of the deposits, it called for a relay-picketing programme from March 15 demanding steps for immediate refund of deposits. It also demanded steps for the revival of the bank since `official lapses' were responsible for closure of the bank.

The Thiruvanaikovil Cooperative Urban Bank, which was ordered to suspend banking operations by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), is facing liquidation proceedings. The RBI had barred it from carrying out banking operations in June 2002 due to poor recovery and mounting Non Performing Assets (NPA). The bank was given a six-month reprieve to improve its performance but it failed to meet the RBI targets. It was asked to suspend operations again by the RBI in January last year. Subsequently, liquidation proceedings were initiated and a sub-registrar was appointed as liquidation officer.

About 6,000 investors were affected by the closure of the bank as their deposits and small savings have not been repaid. The bank's total deposits were said to be around Rs.4.50 crores while its total NPAs were around Rs.4.70 crore, a portion of which has since been recovered. The bank officials have been assuring that deposits would be refunded as they are insured with the Deposit Insurance Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC), Mumbai.

Meanwhile, faced with a potential law and order problem, the revenue authorities convened a meeting with officials of Cooperatives Department and representatives of the association. The meeting was attended, among others, by the Joint Registrar of Cooperatives, Tiruchi, R. Ambikeswaran, the Sub-Registrar and Liquidation Officer, S. Mathivannan, the Srirangam Tahsildar, P.Tamilselvi, the president of the association, D.Thirugnanam, its secretary, P. Sakthivel, and the branch secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), P.Veeramuthu.

The cooperative officials explained that the bank had forwarded insurance claims to the tune of Rs.4.19 crores to the DICGC. Once the claims were settled, the deposits would be refunded. They assured to take up the matter with the Registrar of Cooperatives to press for expeditious disposal of the claims.

Sources in the Cooperatives Department said an audit of the bank's accounts as demanded by the DICGC had been completed. The RBI has taken steps to appoint a couple of chartered accountants to verify the claims, as requested by the DICGC. They expressed confidence that the claims would be settled by the DICGC soon, paving the way for the refund of the deposits and other investments made in the bank.

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