The lead up to the election of Kangra Cooperative Bank slated for 29th October reeks with allegations and counter-allegations. Allegations of all kinds- from defrauding the UCB to threatening employees are being traded on the election turf.
Sudesh Kumar Shukla from ‘the Himachal Vikas Manch’ panel has accused the outgoing Chairman Laxmi Dass from the ‘Himachal Social Group’ panel of financial mismanagement that defrauded the bank of Rs 2 crore.
Laxmi dass has rebutted charges that he has been involved in any financial irregularities. He said it’s not Rs 2 crore but it’s about one core out of which Rs 56 lakh cash was missing from the Burari branch. This is an insured amount that will be settled by the Insurance Company soon, he said defending his position.
“About Rs 34 lakhs bogus FDs were done by Mayur Vihar Branch but an investigation found that Rajesh indulged in wrong practices along with other 16 employees of the bank. In this case, manager was terminated, deputy manager demoted and penalty put on 16 employees. So there is no loss to the bank, Das said emphatically.
The 16 employees of the bank are being pressured not to support the panel ‘Himachal Vikas Manch’ and if they did the amount of their penalty will be raised, Shukla said accusing the outgoing Chairman.
Meanwhile, Dass has strongly denied this allegation and said if any of the directors has indulged in irregularities strict action will be taken against them. And there is no question of increasing penalty on the employees as the penalty amount has already been fixed. We want genuine support from them. Dass who is also on the board of NAFCUB added.
“The Bank Chairman as well as Directors are giving special preference to loanee shareholders by settling their loan amounts in lump-sum which causes loss to the bank”, Shukla had alleged.
Replying to Shukla’s charge of giving special preference to loanee shareholders, Laxmi Das says allegation is false because we are working under the RBI and RCS norms and we have also set up the Bad-Debt Settlement Committee presided over by our Vice-Chairman which oversees the situation. We settle the loaning amounts as per the inquiry report and are working with full transparency, retorted Das.
Shukla also accused Laxmi Das of holding the bank’s board meeting in Khadi and Gramodyog Ayog.
“We have not held any board meeting in the premises of Khadi and Gramodyog Ayog and it is a baseless allegation. Kangra Cooperative Bank has its own board room at Jagat Puri where the meeting is being organized”, Dass said to this correspondent on the phone.
“Relatives of Chairman and board members are being recruited in the bank”, said Shukla. Dass has denied saying ”neither the relatives of the bank Chairman nor that of the board members were recruited. There is a recruitment process based on merit and the staff committee headed by me to oversees the recruitment process”, he added.
Kangra Cooperative Bank is the leading bank of the Delhi-NCR region and has a business mix of about 11,000 crore. It earned a net profit of Rs 11.5 crore in the last financial year. There are about 42,000 members associated with the bank.