THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Cooperation Minister VN Vasavan said the government will monitor the proceedings and the action taken by the management of Kerala Bank in connection with the suicide of a college student in Kollam earlier this week. “We have sought a report from Kerala Bank on the Kollam incident. The government will take action if the probe finds lapses on the part of Kerala Bank management,” he said.
He, however, said it was the responsibility of Kerala Bank and not the cooperation department to probe the lapses on the part of the bank’s Kollam branch in the revenue recovery proceedings. It is learnt that a preliminary report by the registrar of cooperatives points to the lapses on the part of officials in placing a revenue recovery board in front of the house of the defaulter.
The officials also erred in taking the signature of a family member who was not a party to the loan agreement, the report said. Abhirami,20, died by suicide on September 20 allegedly after the bank put up a board with an attachment notice to recover a loan her father had taken, in front of their house. Vasavan said the Kerala Bank has to follow the RBI rules under The Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Securities Interest Act on loan recovery.
“We have decided not to implement Sarfaesi Act in cooperative banks. But Kerala Bank has to follow the RBI rules,” he said. The minister announced that the department approved `21.36 crore for 10,271 applications for the relief fund. The department has so far approved over `68 crore as a relief fund for members of cooperative societies.