Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Cooperative accounts audit soon

Cooperation Minister G. Sudhakaran

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Minister for Cooperation G. Sudhakaran said in the Assembly on Wednesday that the government had initiated steps to make cooperatives professional and conduct audit of their accounts.

The Minister was replying to a debate on the Kerala Cooperatives Societies (Amendment) Bill, which seeks to replace an Ordinance issued to limit membership in district cooperatives.

Mr. Sudhakaran said a computer network was proposed to be set up linking cooperative credit societies, urban banks and other cooperatives. Henceforth, only qualified people would be appointed as auditors. An Auditor General would also be appointed.

The Minister denied the Opposition allegation that the LDF had brought in the Ordinance to gain control of the district cooperative banks. Unlike the UDF, the LDF had not tried to wrest control of cooperatives or resorted to violence to drive away voters. The present government had brought fewer cooperatives under administrative control compared to the previous government. The government only wanted to eliminate nominal members from having voting rights in the district cooperative banks.

Rejecting the Opposition demand that the government should obtain Central assistance as per the recommendations of the Vydyanathan Commission report, Mr. Sudhakaran said the report was not acceptable to the government. It was not willing to surrender the independence and democratic character of the cooperatives for Rs.500 crore. The UDF government had also recorded its objection to the report in 2005 in a letter written by the then Chief Minister Oommen Chandy to the Centre.

He said the government had organised lotteries, as budget funding for cooperatives was limited. He also justified directives issued to the cooperatives to purchase books from the writers’ cooperative at Kottayam for its revival. The House later referred the Bill to the subject committee.

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