THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : All hurdles to the government’s flagship project - the Kerala Bank – have been cleared. said Minister for Co-operation, Kadakampally Surendran in the capital o on Friday.
Referring to objections put up by the opposition leaders at varied stages, including urging RBI to block the amalgamation, Kadakampally said, “UDF threw unnecessary roadblocks that delayed the dream project”.
The Reserve Bank of India on 7 October gave the nod, to merge all district co-operative banks in Kerala into a single state bank. However the consent was conditional in that, the amalgamation shall be subject to order of Kerala High Court , where petitions pertaining to 14A amendment were still pending.
There were 21 cases challenging the amalgamation. The High Court examined each one for possible merit, before dismissing them all and giving its nod to set up Kerala Bank, said Kadakampally.
It has now become possible to integrate all 13 District Co-op banks in the state to form the much awaited Kerala State Co-op Bank. The new bank will become operational as planned, with task timelines listed as under :
1) Following the court order, the current administrator management will be rendered void. Instead an interim committee appointed by the govt shall be in-charge of the bank’s administration.
The Interim Committee will comprise Secretary to Government Co-operation Department, Smt Mini Antony IAS, Principle Secretary to Finance of Kerala Shri Sanjeev Kaushik IAS and Kerala Bank MD Smt Rani George IAS.
The Committee will ensure smooth conduct of day-to-day operations at all the district co-op banks.
2) Post the merger, Kerala Bank will convene its first General Body meeting in the month of December 2019. Amendments to existing bye-law shall form the main agenda of the meeting. The amendments will address bank’s area of activities and its administrative functions.
3) Nearly all products and services of the District Co-op Banks have been homogenized. The process will be complete by January 2020.
4) It has been decided to appoint Union Bank Manager Shri PS Rajan as Kerala Bank CEO. He is expected to assume office by January 2020.
5) Integration of staff(cadre integration) shall be complete by March 2020, after consultations with their respective unions. Appropriate decisions will be taken with regard to contract employees, daily wagers, and commission agents.
6) New logo and color scheme, subject to RBI approval, shall be released . Also effective publicity campaigns shall be organized.
7) The buildings of state district co-operative banks shall be renovated and provided with modern facilities.
8) The employee structure shall be upgraded suitably to match requirements of the modern bank.
9) Rules pertaining to salary revision, promotion and transfers shall be laid down in clear terms.
10) The varied policies of Kerala Bank shall be publicized shortly.
11) Tenders pertaining to Kerala Bank’s core banking, are being processed. It is expected to be complete and contracts awarded, in a month’s time.
The core banking system shall be ready for testing by September 2020.
Once tested, in the first phase, all modern amenities required to reach core banking facilities to customers , shall be made available.
In the second phase, steps shall be taken to link all Farmer Co-operatives to the bank’s network.
12) The tenure of Interim Committee will last a maximum of one year.
However the govt will strive to complete the bylaw amendment process, in order to facilitate elections and hand over the bank’s administration to the democratically elected management.
The government extends sincerely gratitude for support from various quarters that helped make Kerala Bank a reality. Kerala Bank will mark advent of a new era, in the history of Kerala’s socio-economic sector. The govt seeks wholehearted cooperation from all, to make celebrations ushering in the Kerala bank, a huge success.
Day-long festivities will be held coming Friday, 6 December 2019. Hon Chief Minister will join these state level events on the day. The CM will also participate in the Co-operatives-People Meet to be held at 3 pm on 6th Dec at Nishagandhi auditorium in the city, said Kadakampally Surendran.
