3,780 loan account details of Punjab agri coop bank found deleted

Ruchika M Khanna

Chandigarh, February 2

Even as the Punjab State Cooperative Agricultural Development Bank (PSCADB) struggles to stay afloat and recover its loans, the entry in the revenue record of 3,780 loan accounts, called ‘rapat roznamcha’ in common parlance, has been “mysteriously” deleted.

Dangerous trend

The deletion of rapat roznamcha of loanee accounts is dangerous as the loanee can sell the property pledged with the bank. The buyer will check the revenue record before the deal and, upon finding that no red entry (loan entry) is made on the records, will buy the land, which otherwise is pledged with the bank

Of these accounts where rapats have been deleted, 561 loanees have quietly sold their land, mortgaged with the bank.

These surprising facts have been brought to light before the Vidhan Sabha Committee on Cooperation and its Allied Activities, headed by Sardulgarh MLA Gurpreet Singh Banawali, as it assessed the working of the bank this week. Though efforts have been initiated to re-enter the deleted rapats by the bank, it will find it difficult to recover the loans advanced to those loanees, who have sold the land. The committee is now seeking an explanation from the bank as well as the Revenue Department.

The bank has approximately 60,757 loan accounts though it has not advanced any loan for the past four years because of poor recovery of loans. The bank’s outstanding advances are to the tune of Rs 3,112.79 crore of which the 561 loanees have been advanced loans of an estimated Rs 40 crore.

Official sources say that initially, the committee had found that rapats in the case of 5,120 loanees had been deleted. Once the issue came to light and the bank was questioned on how they would secure the loans advanced to these loanees, as the rapats (records of loans) have gone missing, efforts were initiated to assess the old revenue records again and re-enter the rapats of the pledged properties with specifications of the loans. The bank has since been able to re-enter the records of 1,340 loanees.

A senior official in the PSCADB said they had sent demi official letters to all DCs, asking them to speed up the process of re-entry of these rapats in the revenue records. “We are also seeking intervention of the Special Chief Secretary, Revenue, to ensure that the entries are made quickly. As for those who have sold off their mortgaged land after the rapats were deleted, there are legal provisions to attach the other fixed assets of the loanees to recover the dues. We have asked the staff in all 89 branches of the bank to start doing so,” he said. The official said in some cases, the entries could have been deleted when the revenue records are updated every four years.