P Chidambaram to fight Maha district co-op bank case in Supreme Court: Sharad Pawar

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Tuesday said the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had refused to exchange the Rs 112 crore of the districts co-operative banks which they had deposited during demonetization. Now P Chidambaram has agreed to fight on behalf of district co-operative banks in the Supreme Court.

"We met the Union finance minister four times and requested him to resolve this perennial issue. But nothing has been done so far. Once again, we will meet and remind him, otherwise we will go to Supreme Court against the government," Pawar said.

Pawar said it was not Nirav Modi but small traders, farmers, and laborers who deposited their money in these banks. "If government refuses to exchange this deposited money, then it will destroy the small account holders completely," Pawar added.

"After the government demonetization appeal, farmers and working rural class deposited their hard earned money in the districts banks. But the government is now refusing to exchange these deposited notes," said Pawar.

Out of Rs 112 crore, Rs 22.25 crore is from Pune District Co-operative Bank, Rs 14.72 crore Sangli Co-operative Bank, Rs 25.28 crore from Kolhapur District co-operative bank and Rs 21.32 crore from Nasik District Co-operative Bank.

He said the RBI had sent them a letter dated January 30, 2018, saying that the district co-operative banks should destroy these earlier deposited Rs 112 crore and show this amount as a loss of account. "They exchanged the money of the national and scheduled banks, then why not district co-operative banks," Pawar asked.

He also said that similar problem has been faced by the Gujarat and Karnataka district co-operative banks.

NO SOLUTION YET

NCP chief Sharad Pawar said the RBI had sent them a letter dated January 30, 2018, saying the district co-operative banks should destroy the  Rs 112 crore and show this amount as a loss of account. “They exchanged the money of national and scheduled banks, then why not district co-operative banks,” he said