In an all out defence the Congress govt of Prithvi Raj Chavan has moved forward to shied Ajit Pawar, Deputy CM in the case of multi-crore loss incurred by Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank. Old hands at cooperative say it is a deja vu as Nafed was also destroyed similarly by doling out loans to undeserving individuals and organizations.
Talking to media in Pune the Cooperation minister Harshvardhan Patil ruled out resignation by the deputy CM, saying an inquiry was still on.
Pawar was a director of the NCP-controlled bank before the board was dissolved in 2011 on RBI directives. The bank had suffered losses of at least Rs 600 crore and a Nabard report had spoken about the non-repayment of loans taken by financial societies ruled by politicians.
A preliminary enquiry by cooperation department registrar AK Chavhan has concluded that due to actions and non-performance by directors of MSCB, the bank suffered huge losses. MSCB is the apex cooperative bank in the state and controls all cooperative banks of the state.
On the basis of this report, cooperation commissioner Dinesh Oulkar has ordered a subsequent enquiry to fix responsibility on each director for the losses incurred by the bank. This will enable the department to recover the amount from the directors as per Section 88 of Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act.
The monsoon session of the Maharashtra assembly is likely to be dominated by this issue as it gives the opposition BJP and Shiv Sena a chance to hammer Pawar for his role in the cooperative scandal. The ruling parties Congress and NCP have the unenviable task of facing the opposition hot on the heels of their humiliating defeat in the parliamentary election.
Sources say some opposition leaders may also be involved in the scandal but this does not mean the opposition will pull punches in its criticism of the ruling parties. State BJP president Devendra Fadnavis has already demanded that criminal complaint be filed against the guilty directors. Vinod Tawde, leader of opposition in legislative council, has also demanded the same.
The directors, besides Pawar, were water supply minister Dilip Sopal, senior BJP MLC Pandurang Phundkar, Shiv Sena MP Anandrao Adsul, Congress MLA Vijay Wadettiwar and the then chairman Manikrao Patil. Most of the over 50 directors are from NCP and Congress.
The bank incurred huge losses giving loans to cooperative sugar and ginning mills run by NCP and Congress leaders. Most of the mills did not repay the loans.