THE BARE FIGURES
- Total depositors “ 56635
- Total deposits “ Rs 189.81 crore
- Liquid cash available with bank “ Rs 122.32 crore
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MARGAO
When will the 360-odd depositors of the Madgaum Urban Cooperative Bank (MUCB) get back their deposits? is a question that has come to haunt the depositors and officials of the bank under liquidation.
Questions are also being raised about when exactly will the depositors whose deposits exceed the rupees five lakh ceiling receive their deposits amounting to a whopping around Rs 40 crore.
For, these beleaguered depositors, who have deposits amounting to less than Rs five lakh, have been doing the rounds of the MUCB head office at Aquem for the last five months. Every time, they visit the head office, they are told that their proposal for withdrawal of deposits has been forwarded to the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC) for settlement.
Amongst the depositors include claimants whose proposal for withdrawal of their deposits did not find favour with the DICGC at the first round of the exercise to return the deposits.
The Designated officer appointed by the Liquidator to take the liquidation proceedings to a logical conclusion, Kishore Amonkar admitted that the DICGC has not cleared the money of the 360 depositors to date. He said the office of the liquidator had forwarded the claims received from the 360 depositors around five months ago, adding that the DICGC has still cleared the payments.
Beleaguered depositors, however, have not stopped making daily rounds of the MUCB head office, hoping for the early return of their hard-earned deposits.
“We have no idea about the delay on the part of DICGC in clearing the payments of these depositors. My office is constantly doing the follow-up with the agency,” he said.
To the question of when exactly the depositors whose deposits exceed the Rs five lakh ceiling will get back their hard-earned deposits, Amonkar said the answer to this question lies in the recovery of the dues and after disposing of the assets.
Around 10,000 depositors of MUCB bank have so far received their deposits since the time the process of liquidation started way back in September 2021.
The bank had decided to initially clear all the depositors whose deposits come under the Rs 5 lakh ceiling.
“We cannot say at this moment when the depositors whose deposits exceed Rs five lakh will receive the money. It will depend on a host of factors, including the availability of cash to make the payments,” informed another official.
Sources in the know informed though MUCB had several assets at the time of liquidation, auctioning of the assets have been receiving lukewarm response from prospective buyers.
The process towards the liquidation of the Madgaum Urban Cooperative Bank was set in motion by the government-appointed liquidator on September 1, 2021, after the liquidator had called upon all the 56635 depositors, having claims against the Bank to submit their claims on Depositors' claims form within two months.
Interestingly, only around 10,000 depositors have claimed their depositors, with the majority of the depositors not yet filed their claims for the return of their deposits.
