NEW DELHI: The Registrar of Cooperative Societies (RCS) has referred several cooperative societies to the Delhi Government’s Economic Offences Wing for investigation, citing serious concerns of misappropriation and embezzlement of public funds.
A preliminary investigation has found that multiple societies have failed to return fixed deposits (FDs) to their members and have avoided mandatory financial audits for several years, officials said.
In response to these findings, the department has suspended the management committees of three societies, placing them under administrative control.
According to senior officials, the department has been receiving complaints for over two years from members of various thrift and credit cooperative societies registered with the Registrar, highlighting issues such as non-payment of FDs, failure to conduct elections, and allegations of financial mismanagement.
In an official order issued by the department, all thrift and credit cooperative societies operating have been instructed to submit a detailed set of financial and operational information including their financial audits, loan disbursements, and a full account of movable and immovable assets.
“Whereas, this department is in receipt of numerous complaints against the managing committee of the thrift and credit cooperative societies registered with Registrar Cooperative Societies, GNCT of Delhi for Non-payment of Fixed Deposit Receipts (FDRs) and other member deposits, failure to conduct elections of the managing committee within the prescribed time, Non-conduct of statutory audits, alleged misappropriation and embezzlement of public funds etc. In order to strengthen monitoring and ensure compliance with the provisions of the Delhi Cooperative Societies Act, 2003 and the Delhi Cooperative Societies Rules, 2007, all Thrift and Credit Cooperative Societies operating within the NCT of Delhi are hereby directed to submit the following information within 07 (seven) days from the date of issue of this circular,” the order read.
"This is a precautionary step to ensure smooth functioning while we investigate the allegations. Furthermore, the Economic Offences Wing has been instructed to probe the affairs of three societies where concerns of embezzlement and mismanagement are most severe,” said a senior official.
The official also said they are planning to collect reports from cooperative societies every quarter to enforce accountability and ensure that all audits are conducted on time.