Acting on a Public Interest litigation (PIl), the Odisha High Court has directed the Chief General Manager (CGM), State Bank of India, Bhubaneswar, not to shift the Sanpur SBI Branch to the proposed new relocation at Majurai area on the outskirts of Jagatsinghpur.
The court also directed the SBI CGM to conduct a probe into the bid to shift the bank by some SBI officials contrary to the interest of the bank users of the locality.
Reports said hundreds of account holders including pensioners and other beneficiaries of different Panchyats from Sanpur, Sanra, Gopalpur, Taradapada, Peteipur, Biritola and nearby localities were availing banking facilities from SBI, Sanpur branch over last 25 years. The SBI authority in a new proposal decided to shift the Sanpur branch to Majurai location which is coming under Jagatsinghpur urban domain.
Protesting the illegal relocation, hundreds of accountholders and bank users of the localities had demonstrated in front of the SBI Sanpur branch and demanded to thwart the branch shifting proposal.
Ironically, the bank authorities did not respond to the branch users’ complaint as consequence of which the president of pension holders association Dhaneswar Sahoo and four accountholders had filed a PIl in the Odisha High Court seeking intervention of the latter.
The petitioners had revealed in the PIl that the Majurai area where SBI has selected relocating the SBI Sanpur branch is not safe for the bank users. They cited several criminal incidents like dacoity, snatching, bomb hurling and illegal liquor transaction in the area.
A division Bench of the High Court comprising Justices Pradip Kumar Mohanty and Biswajit Mohanty heard the PIl last week.