The Kerala High Court on Monday asked the state government whether it could compensate the loss suffered by depositors of various cooperative service societies in the state who had been denied withdrawal of the matured funds, owing to financial crisis faced by the respective societies/banks.
Justice S Siri Jagan issued the directive while considering a plea filed by Gopinathan Nair of Kulanada in Pathanamthitta district, who moved the High Court against the Kulanada Service Cooperative Society.
The petitioner submitted that that the society denied him withdrawal of funds invested by him, even after the designated period of maturity, owing to the financial crisis. “The situation is alarming. More than 30 petitions are pending before the court seeking similar directive against several banks across the state,” The court observed.
The court also asked the Director General of Prosecution to inform the court about the stance of the state on the issue, within one month. The court further made the state government and the Department of Cooperation, parties in the case. The HC had earlier asked the state to constitute a special probe team to probe the allegations against some of the managing committee members of the bank.