If depositors money not returned, people will lose trust in coop banks: HC

The Kerala High Court has said that unless the authorities take steps to ensure depositors' request for return of their money is honoured, people's trust in the cooperative banking sector would be "seriously diminished".

Justice Devan Ramachandran said that people losing faith in the cooperative banking sector would "prejudice" the state deeply, "particularly when the present fiscal situation is not as satisfactory as it ought to have been".

"... the return of fixed deposits by the cooperative banks is the sine qua non of a healthy financial scenario; and violations of it would certainly create unrest in the minds of persons and would impede them from relying upon such banks in future," the court said in its order of June 13.

The observations by the court came while hearing a batch of petitions by depositors seeking return of their money in various cooperative banks in the state.

The court, during the proceedings, noted that since the last hearing on May 21, there has not been enou