Tussle between Kangra Central Cooperative Bank board, top management generates political heat

A tussle between the Board of Directors of Kangra Central Cooperative Bank (KCCB) and its top management is generating political heat. The top management of the KCCB, including the Managing Director (MD) and two general managers, did not attend a meeting of the bank’s board held on September 6.

The absence of the bank MD and GMs from the meeting infuriated the Board of Directors, which passed a resolution withdrawing administrative work from the two GMs and assigning one of them the job of loan recovery.

Meanwhile, the BJP has alleged that all is not well with the management of the leading cooperative bank of Kangra. BJP spokesperson Sanjay Sharma alleged that the state government wanted the top management of the bank to take decisions of political considerations and settle loan cases that had become bad debts in favour of people who had duped the bank. The party demanded an inquiry into the working of the bank by an independent agency, he added.

KCCB Board Chairman Kuldip Pathania said that the Board of Directors had decided to take action against the two GMs for skipping the meeting without informing anyone and scuttling the working of the bank. The GMs had sent their medical leave for September 6 when the board meeting was held. The Assembly was in session on September 6 and as per the rules, no government official could have proceeded on leave without giving prior information.

Pathania said that the board had decided to put one GM on loan recovery duty in Kullu district while the other GM was asked to produce in detail the medical certificate for his leave. Asked about the absence of the Managing Director from the meeting, Pathania said that he had also been asked to explain his conduct.

Bank MD Vinay Kumar was not available for his comments over the issue despite repeated attempts to contact him on phone. He also did not respond to text messages.

Sources told The Tribune that the tussle between the Board of Directors and the top management of the bank was the result of alleged inaction against top defaulters. They added that non-performing assets (NPAs) had touched about Rs 1,400 crore. Some loans given during the stint of the previous BJP and Congress governments had turned bad debts.

The sources said that some top officials of the bank were in favour of settling bad debts with the defaulters while some on the Board of Directors did not like the idea. The Board of Directors also wanted an FIIR to be registered against some bank officials for sanctioning loans in violation of the rules. This led to a tussle between the Board of Directors and the top management of the bank. They added that the ball was in now in the court of Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, who had been apprised of the situation in the bank.

2 GMs stripped of admn powers

• Two GMs stripped of administrative powers for not attending a meeting of the Board of Directors
• MD also did not attend the meeting
• One GM put on loan recovery duty, the other asked to present medical certificate for the leave