Thiruvananthapuram: The state police chief in Kerala has issued a letter raising alarm over the ‘security standards’ of cooperative societies/banks in the state. 

In the letter, the police chief has put forth seven recommendations to ensure the smooth and corruption-free functioning of cooperative institutions in the state. 

Meanwhile, the Department of Cooperation argues that the present crisis is the result of a failure to comply with the several orders issued between 1984 and 2020, which outline the safety standards that cooperative banks and societies must implement to function properly.

Following the recent development, the cooperative society registrar has issued a circular for increasing the ‘security standards’ at such institutions.  

Earlier, the state government had intimated the registrar of the concerns raised by the police chief. 

If it turns out that the bank failed to implement security measures leading to a financial loss, then the responsibility rests on the chief executive and administrative bodies of the respective institutions. 

As a result, cooperative societies will now have to follow the instructions strictly. If they fail to do so, activities including gold mortgage transactions will be put on hold.