Marching orders for tainted auditors

Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh has asked Cooperation Secretary Rajeev Agarwal and Cooperation Commissioner Ratnakar Gaikwad to forthwith s...

Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh has asked Cooperation Secretary Rajeev Agarwal and Cooperation Commissioner Ratnakar Gaikwad to forthwith suspend all the special auditors of the cooperative banks involved in the multi-crore government securities scam.

Deshmukh, who also holds the Cooperation portfolio, told his officials that the mere serving of show-cause notices to them under the Maharashtra Civil Service Rules was not enough. He felt they should be suspended for dereliction of duty. After the scandal involving Nagpur, Osmanabad and Wardha district cooperative banks 8212; all controlled by senior NCP leaders 8212; and three urban cooperative banks came to light, Deshmukh had a brief meeting with senior officials of the cooperation department.

8216;8216;Deshmukh made it clear that owing to the failure of the special auditors and the officials of the cooperation department, the banks illegally and without authorisation invested in government securities through private brokers. Prima facie, it appears these auditors did not report the investments to the government or the commissioner for cooperation,8217;8217; a cooperation department official said.

It was the first time Deshmukh gave specific instructions on stringent disciplinary action against erring officials of his own department since the scandal broke. Simultaneously, Deshmukh, in a major damage-control exercise, is likely to revamp the entire cooperation department to improve performance.

On the role of special auditors in the district central cooperative banks, the official admitted there was dereliction of duty on their part. As per the provisions of law, the special auditors are supposed to conduct continuous and concurrent inspections of all bank transactions. As such, when the Nagpur, Osmanabad and Wardha banks approached a private broker for investment in government securities, it should have been brought to the government8217;s notice immediately.

The official said: 8216;8216;When it was brought the notice of the Chief Secretary V. Ranganathan that there was no coordination among the investigating agencies, he immediately agreed to convene a special meeting on Tuesday for the purpose.8217;8217;