197 housing societies in state served liquidation notices-Chennai

77 To Be Wound Up In Chennai; Many Were Defunct For Yrs

The registrar of housing cooperative societies has 
issued liquidation notices to 197 housing societies
that have virtually been defunct for more than five years 
without any activity or transaction. Seventy-seven of the 
197 societies to be wound up are in Chennai.

These societies had come under the state housing 
department’s scanner following the busting of a
Rs 490-crore scam in some societies, which had 
allegedly diverted customers’ money for purposes
other than what it was intended for — clearing their
loan liability with the Tamil Nadu Cooperative
Housing Federation. Consequently, the housing 
department carried out reviews in all 1,035 societies in the state
— 816 are affiliated to the Tamil Nadu Housing Cooperative
Federation — and many issues ranging from availability
 of excess staff in some societies to total inaction in 
many others were brought to light.

While as many as 197 societies were issued notices
15 days ago for liquidation, another 214 have been
put on alert for transferring their assets and liabilities 
to better-performing ones, said the registrar of housing
cooperative societies, Dharmendra Pratap Yadav.

Most of them have assets and liabilities worth less
than Rs one crore each, said Yadav, adding that 
those assets would be adjusted against the liabilities
before they are merged with other societies.

“They have been given 30 days notice to reply to the liquidation notices.
Later, we will assess their finances,” he added. 

The Tamil Nadu Cooperative Housing Federation had 
stopped funding these societies in September after the 
scam surfaced. The federation, over the years, had 
provided Rs 4,753 crore as loan to societies and as
of now, there is an outstanding dues of Rs 1,168 crore.

In many cases, despite the members having paid the full 
money to the society concerned, the latter had not 
remitted it to the federation.

To maintain transparency and accountability 
in their activities, they were also instructed to close 
down all bank accounts and carry out financial transactions
only through escrow accounts to be opened in district cooperative banks.