Mounesh Vishwakarma
Daijiworld Media Network - Bantwal
Bantwal, June 12: Former president of the Bantwal Taluk Primary Cooperative Agricultural and Rural Development Bank (N) Sudarshan Jain has termed the recent superseding of the bank's entire governing body by higher authorities due to financial irregularities as a "dark chapter in the bank's history." He was speaking at a press conference held at the Congress office in B C Road.
Jain stated that the deputy registrar of cooperative societies of Dakshina Kannada district conducted an investigation under Section 64 of the Karnataka Cooperative Societies Act. Following confirmation of misappropriation, the present board was dismissed under Section 29(C) of the same Act. An order issued on May 27 disqualified the then president and all directors of the board from holding any position in the bank’s management for a period of three years. "The entire board is being punished for the misdeeds of the president and the manager," Jain remarked.
He alleged that Padmanabha G, who was serving as the bank’s manager, had been involved in illegal transactions that were politically motivated and detrimental to farmer-members. Directors and members of the bank had lodged a complaint regarding this with the president of the State Land Development Bank. Acting on the complaint, the managing director of the Karnataka State Land Development Bank conducted an investigation and found that Padmanabha G had violated cooperative laws. Consequently, he was suspended from service on February 6 and an inquiry was ordered, Jain said.
Jain further alleged that the current governing body, motivated by political interests ahead of upcoming elections, had unlawfully restructured the bank’s electoral constituencies and implemented reservation changes without adhering to cooperative regulations. He claimed that members were not served notices for the previous general body meeting, false details of attendance were recorded, and continuous disturbances were orchestrated to push through illegal constituency restructuring and political reservation.
Based on complaints submitted to the deputy registrar of cooperative societies, an investigation was conducted and the restructured constituencies and reservations were rejected. An order issued on December 4 mandated that the constituency and reservation pattern used in the previous election be retained, Jain added.
The press conference was attended by key figures including Chandraprakash Shetty Tumbe, Abbas Ali, Chandrashekar Bhandari, Balakrishna Anchan, and Mohammad Nandavar.