The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday directed the Enforcement Directorate to submit a report on action initiated after registering an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) in connection with the alleged fraud in Sri Guru Raghavendra Co-operative Bank Ltd, Bengaluru.
Also, the court directed the State government on handling of the criminal case related to the bank by one investigating agency. One case was recently transferred to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) from Basavanagudi police station while the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) had recently registered a First Information Report (FIR) based on a complaint by a shareholder-cum-depositor of the bank, and had searched several places.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Nataraj Rangaswamy issued the directions while hearing a PIL petition filed by K.R. Narasimha Murthy and three other depositors of the bank.
‘Helps 54% depositors’
Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) told the court that its decision taken on June 19 permitting withdrawal up to ₹1 lakh per depositor would benefit 54% of the customers, who can avail their entire balance from the bank.
The RBI has also said that it has received 7,623 applications from depositors seeking withdrawal for hardship and medical expenses, and it has allowed withdrawal of ₹12.3 crore by 2,467 applicants towards mitigating hardships, and ₹79 lakh for meeting medical expenses for 33 applicants so far.
Avoid queue
Meanwhile, the bench directed the bank’s administrator to take steps to avoid long queues in front of its branches in the present situation by allowing payment through online transfer of their money and provision to submit applications through e-mail for withdrawing the permitted amount.
The bench also asked the RBI to consider other representations made by the depositors while reviewing the bank’s performance under Banking Regulations Act while adjourning further hearing till July 7.