MAPUSA
Claims of only 49 per cent of the depositors of Mapusa Urban Cooperative Bank (MUCB) sanctioned below Rs 5 lakh amounting to Rs 254 crore have been settled by the Liquidator for the quarter ending December 2022 while claims of 51 per cent of depositors amounting to Rs 5 crore remains to be settled.
Out of the total 66,848 depositors, the claims below Rs 5 lakh of 32,942 depositors have been cleared while 33,906 depositors were yet to be settled, as per the report furnished by the Director of Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation Mumbai (DICGC-RBI).
The report also states that settling of claims due to large depositors, above Rs 5 lakh has not commenced to date.
The total funds of the large depositors which are held up are Rs 73 crore.
“The total outstanding amount by MUCB due to be paid to both the below and above Rs 5 lakh categories of depositors is Rs 78 crore,” said Joseph Carneiro and three other depositors of the MUCB in a signed press note.
Further, the report states that details of 43,683 untraceable depositors amounting to Rs 18 crore have not been received by the DICGC from the official liquidator, Anthony D’Sa.
“Therefore the principal outstanding amounts due to all categories of depositors till date amount to Rs 97 crore, not including the liable interest due on hard-earned deposits entrapped, denied and deprived access to by MUCB from 2015 for no fault of the innocent depositors,” Carneiro opined.
The depositors demanded that the liquidator should commence parallel and simultaneous release of deposits to both categories that are below and above Rs 5 lakh at the earliest as considerable time has elapsed.
According to the depositors, the SARFAESI Act 2002 empowers recovery from defaulters within the prescribed period limit of 60 days, when strictly applied to and enforced will expedite recovery and release of funds payable/denied to depositors.
“The orders of the High Court of Bombay at Goa in a Writ Petition clearly implores the liquidator to put in extra efforts and expedite the proceedings by appreciating that the issue in the petition is not only a legal issue but more of a human issue as the petitioners are naturally disturbed by the fact that they are unable to obtain their hard-earned amounts deposited or invested by them in the bank under liquidation,” the depositors recounted.
It may be recalled that the RBI had cancelled the licence of the MUCB and simultaneously set in motion the liquidation process of the bank.
The MUCB has been under liquidation since April 16, 2020, and the process to settle depositors' claims started soon thereafter.
