MARGAO
As the hearing in the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by depositors commenced in the High Court, the Madgaum Urban Cooperative Bank (MUCB) on Tuesday made an oral submission to the court stating that the bank could pay to the depositors an additional amount of Rs 20,000 with the nod from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
Making the oral submission, MUCB counsel Adv Cleofato Coutinho submitted that payment of additional Rs 20,000 by the bank could possibly clear the claims of around 49,000 depositors.
The RBI counsel is believed to have sought two weeks’ time to file a reply to the written submissions made by the bank. The next hearing has been fixed for the first week of February.
In his written submission, MUCB Managing Director Kishore Amonkar has said the RBI has imposed various restrictions including directions not to accept deposits and restrictions on withdrawal of premature deposits.
He said the RBI on April 26, 2019, imposed restrictions on withdrawal beyond Rs 5000 which was modified as per a direction dated 30th October 2019 whereby the withdrawal limit per depositor was increased to Rs 30,000.
Amonkar submitted to the court that there are around 47,342 depositor accounts where the deposit amount is up to Rs 30,000.
He further submitted that in case of any hardship faced by the depositors and require amount beyond Rs 30,000 the RBI has permitted the bank to release amount for purposes like marriage, education of children, livelihood, medical emergency.
“Earlier these exigencies were directly monitored and sanctioned by RBI. However currently the bank is permitted to deal with and release amounts up to Rs 1,00,000,” Amonkar submitted, adding that cases above Rs 1,00,000 and maximum up to Rs 5,00,000 are considered by the RBI.
Saying there are many cases where above Rs 30,000 amount has been released by the bank and the RBI, Amonkar further stated that in case the requirements of the scheme are not met, the requests for release for amounts above Rs 30,000 are rejected.
The MUCB Managing Director further stated that currently the annual inspection of RBI is in progress and three officers of the RBI are conducting the said inspection for the past eight days, adding “for the last two months, the bank has been filing daily liquidity reports to the RBI which is monitoring the liquidity position of the bank”.
In his affidavit, Amonkar stated that the bank shall comply with all the directions issued and undertakes to comply with any order passed by this court.
Beleaguered depositors from the villages of Curtorim, Raia and others led by Dionisio Sardinha had written a letter to the High Court last month, highlighting their plight with the bank not returning their hard-earned money. The letter was later converted as a writ petition by the High Court.
