PONDA: Chairmen of 38 milk supplying societies attached to Goa Dairy have filed a complaint with the Registrar of Cooperative Societies (RCS), demanding inquiry against former directors of the Diary for alleged illegal transfer of Rs 7.48 crore in the now defunct Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank (now known as Unity Bank).
As per the complaint, in the year 2017-18, Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Government of India had sanctioned Rs 16 crore under Dairy Scheme to Goa Dairy. It received first installment of Rs 7.91 crore on September 26, 2017, which was parked in the Goa State Cooperative Bank.
As per the Dairy rules, this money couldn’t be transferred to other banks without permission of sanctioning authority. Further, utilisation certificate had to be produced for releasing the balance amount.
“However, Rs 7.48 crore was transferred from Goa State Cooperative Bank to PMC Bank by directors of Goa Dairy for their vested interest, despite knowing the rules, without formal Board resolution and permission of sanctioning authority,” the complaint stated.
The complainants said that as per their information, at present this money is blocked in the erstwhile PMC Bank and chances of getting it back was very bleak.
The complainants further mentioned that Goa Dairy will have to pay back this amount to Government of India if it is not utilised in time and till then Goa Dairy will not receive any funds under any project from Union Government. Hence, ultimately Goa Dairy will suffer.
Terming the transaction illegal as per the Cooperative Act and breach of trust, the complainants demanded that the losses incurred by Goa Dairy should be recovered with interest from all the responsible directors.
