Chavan agrees to appoint full-time administrator for Pen co-op bank

Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, on Wednesday, provided some relief to aggrieved depositors of Pen Urban Cooperative Bank, who had walked 100km from their hometown to meet him at his residence in Mumbai.

Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, on Wednesday, provided some relief to aggrieved depositors of Pen Urban Cooperative Bank, who had walked 100km from their hometown to meet him at his residence in Mumbai.

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Chavan met the delegation and agreed to appoint a full-time administrator to the bank. The police had earlier blocked the march at Chembur, eventually allowing it till Dadar before Chavan called the depositors to Mantralaya.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in September last year, imposed stringent restrictions and passed an order for the closure of 18 branches of the bank. Despite this, the bank is reported to have released loans worth over Rs500 crore to non-existing account holders without verifying the documents.

The RBI, in October last year, imposed a penalty of Rs1 lakh because the bank failed to satisfactorily respond to a show-cause notice. A month later, the bank chairman, Shishir Dharkar, his wife and six others were arrested in connection with another scam related to the export gold worth Rs480 crore. The Central Bureau of Investigation is now probing the case.

Chavan also promised to appoint a legal expert to fight the case in court and change the bank’s finance officer. The government will also monitor the bank’s business on a monthly business.