Gujarat appoints liquidator for Vikas Co-operative Bank

The Gujarat government on Thursday appointed Assistant Surat District Registrar (Co-operatives) J R Charel the liquidator of the Surat-based Vikas Co-operative Bank. The bank's licence was terminated by the Reserve Bank of India on September 1.

According to R M Asodia, who was Vikas Bank's administrator, "Vikas Co-operative Bank was suspended from clearing house in August 2002. The bank chairman Kalpesh Jariwala and vice chairman Dilip Chudawala had misused their authority and taken loans of Rs 20 crore from the bank."

"These loans were not repaid and became non performing assets (NPAs). The RBI had placed restrictions under Section 35 (A) of the Banking Regulations Act, since past one year," Asodia said.

"The Vikas Bank was unable to make any major recoveries, and there was little possibility of the bank resuming operations and hence its license was terminated," Asodia said.

"The state government has taken Vikas Co-operative Bank into liquidation. Assistant District Registrar (Co-operatives) J R Charel has been appointed liquidator. He will take charge of the bank shortly, after which distribution of claim forms among the depositors, so that they can claim their monies, will begin," Asodia said.

The Vikas Co-operative Bank has around 22,000 depositors, while the total deposits are around Rs. 32 crore. Deposits of almost 99 per cent of the depositors, are under Rs. 1 lakh, which are insured by the Deposit Insurance And Credit Guarantee Corporation.