Maharashtra winks at rules, favours coop bank led by BJP MLC

MUMBAI: The state cabinet has made an exception in the rules to allow the Mumbai District Central Cooperative Bank (MDCCB), whose chairman is BJP leader Pravin Darekar, to conduct government transactions. The exception was made despite objections raised by the state’s cooperation department, say sources.
Darekar is an MLC from the BJP and former leader of opposition in the state council.According to the rules, only district central cooperative banks (DCCB) with an audit rating of A over a 5-year span are considered for government transactions. The bank said its auditors gave it an A rating over a 5-year period. However, in the cooperation department’s assessment, the bank had a B-plus rating for one year during this span.
“The MDCCB argued against the assessment of the cooperation department and finally an exception was granted by the state cabinet,” said a senior officer from the finance department.
Darekar said the bank had been a victim of political vendetta. “The objections against our bank were raised during the tenure of the earlier government for political reasons. We were not even asked to respond. We then sent our application with documents to show that our bank had an audit rating of A for five years. Now with the cabinet’s permission, the MDCCB will be able to do more work for Mumbai’s development,” said Darekar.
He added that banks with a net worth of Rs 150 crore had been allowed to conduct government transactions but the MDCCB had been denied this although its net worth was Rs 360 crore and turnover was Rs 12,000 crore.
In the past, several DCCBs have been given permission to conduct government transactions. In October, the apex bank of the state’s cooperative structure – the scam-tainted Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank – was allowed to conduct banking transactions with the government by the state cabinet. This led to questions from BJP ministers on why the MDCCB was not allowed to do so.
The MDCCB has faced a series of controversies under Darekar’s leadership. He had to resign from a directorship on the bank’s board after an inquiry revealed he had used bogus documents to claim that he was a labourer in order to contest elections from the labour category. However, he retained a director’s post through the urban cooperative bank category.
In August 2022, after the Shinde government came to power, Darekar was elected to the chairman’s post.