Responding to the advisory from the Union Agriculture Ministry, the State Government on Tuesday formed 30 teams of Assistant Registrar Cooperative Societies to go into the financial irregularities committed by as many multi-state cooperative societies, including the Artha Tatwa Group, which operated in the State and duped lakhs of innocent investors.
A notification was issued by the cooperation department regarding the formation of the audit teams which would be supervised by two Joint Registrars of Cooperative Societies Basu Charan Sethi and Balabhadra Patra.
Minister of Cooperation Bikram Keshari Arukh told reporters that the teams would conduct detailed inspection of the books of accounts and other documents of the companies and send detailed reports on numbers of the members, nominal members, non-members, if any, and the amounts deposited and the outstanding dues.
He said all possible steps would be taken to protect the interests of the depositors and members who have been duped by the societies and their promoters including freezing of bank accounts, etc.
Arukh said the inquiry would be conducted against the multi-state cooperative societies registered in the State till May 28, 2013 to ascertain their operational statuses, business areas, membership position, compliance with statutory provisions, etc.
The Registrar of Cooperative Societies has been asked to submit a detailed report to the Government after the completion of the audits for submission to the Union Agriculture Ministry.
He said the auditors would conduct inspection of the 30 multi-state cooperatives societies, including Arthat Tatwa, Bhubaneswar, SlB Multistate Credit Cooperative Society, Bhubaneswar, Specimen Society, Bhubaneswar, Sawastik India, Bhubaneswar, Kishore Society, Bhubaneswar, Vista Society, Bhubaneswar, Mideast Society, Bhubaneswar, Gayatri Society, Bhadrak, Suraj Society, Bhadrak, Micro Finance Credit Society, Baleswar, EVOS Society, Bhubaneswar, Rajiv Society, Bhubaneswar, Green India Society, Brahmapur, Ganjam, Utkal Society, Bhubaneswar, and Janasahyog Society, Thakurpatna, Kendrapada.