Odisha: House panel formed over Srimandir deposits in Yes Bank

Bhubaneswar: A House Committee of the Odisha Legislative Assembly was today formed for a probe into the depositing of Rs 545 crore by the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) in the crisis-hit Yes Bank.

The panel chaired by Speaker Dr. Surjya Narayan Patro will submit a memorandum to the Government of India and RBI Governor relating to release of the funds from the bank.

MLAs Pradipta Naik, Bikram Keshari Arukha, Pramila Mallik, Narasingha Mishra, Debi Prasad Mishra, Laxman Munda, Tara Prasad Bahinipati, Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak, Subash Chandra Panigrahi, Mohan Majhi and Pratap Keshari Deb have been appointed as the members of the committee.

Finance Minister Niranjan Pujari had yesterday clarified the reason for which the money was deposited in the bank. The funds were deposited in Yes Bank as it offered the highest rate of interest of 8.61 percent. The Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) had invited quotations from scheduled commercial banks for depositing the money while 12 banks gave proposals in this regard. Yes Bank offered the highest rate of interest for which the funds were parked in the bank, the minister said in the State Assembly.

The minister further informed that he has written to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman requesting her to issue necessary instruction to the Reserve Bank of India to allow release of deposits relating to SJTA in Yes Bank.

The SJTA has also written to the RBI for transfer of Rs 545 crore deposited by it in Yes Bank to UCO Bank, Main Branch, Puri.

Notably, Yes Bank Ltd has been placed under moratorium by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and certain restrictions have been imposed by the RBI for withdrawal of funds from the bank.