Southern States - Karnataka

Centre asked to form national rural bank

By Our Staff Correspondent

CHITRADURGA FEB. 17. Shravan Kumar Rathore, Deputy Secretary, All-India Grameen Bank Workers' Organisation, appealed to the Centre here on Sunday to launch a national rural bank by merging 196 regional rural banks (RRBs) in the country.

He told presspersons that these banks had 14,500 branches in 23 States. The Chalapati Rao Committee formed by the Centre to look into the demand for forming the national rural bank was expected to submit its report by March. Such a bank would help better credit delivery.

Mr. Rathore said the organisation would file a contempt case in the Supreme Court against the RRBs which had not implemented its judgment on revision of wages. It filed a petition before the Supreme Court in 1995 demanding that employees of the RRBs be paid salaries on par with that of those in nationalised banks.

The court had referred it to a tribunal. The tribunal ruled in favour of the organisation's demand, and the apex court, in its judgment on January 31, 2001, upheld that award.

But about 40 per cent of the RRBs had not implemented the ruling, though 50 per cent of the operating profit was available with them for pay revision and payment of arrears, he claimed.

He appealed to the Union Finance Minister to withdraw the Government Order imposing tax on the allowances given to the employees of the RRBs.

Mr. Rathore is the Deputy General Secretary of National Organisation of Bank Officers. Dharmapal Kumar, convenor of the Chitradurga Grameen Bank Officers' and Employees' Union, and Mallinath, General Secretary of the union, were present.

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