MALAPPURAM : After the single and division benches of the High Court refused to stay the merger of Malappuram District Cooperative Bank (Malappuram DCB) with the Kerala State Cooperative Bank (Kerala Bank), over 90 primary cooperative societies under the DCB decided to challenge the merger in the Supreme Court on Friday.
Manjeri MLA U A Latheef, who was the president of Malappuram DCB before the amalgamation, leads the legal fight. He had filed a plea against the merger before the single bench and then the division bench, but did not get a favourable ruling.
He said he will move the SC. “We will continue our fight till we get a favourable order,” he told TNIE.
A lawyer associated with Latheef said there are chances of getting a favourable order from the SC. “The general body of DCB is not happy with the merger. We can prove that the amalgamation is not legally sustainable,” the lawyer said.
The IUML leaders in the general body of the district bank believe that the amalgamation based on the amendments in the Kerala Cooperative Societies Act can be challenged in the top court.
They might also point out that RBI guidelines were not followed while merging the banks. With the registrar issuing an order of amalgamation on Thursday, all DCBs in the state stand merged with Kerala Bank. Earlier, all DCBs in the state, except Malappuram DCB, had passed resolutions in favour of the amalgamation with Kerala Bank.