CRCS-Sahara Refund Portal Restored
Ministry resumes verification and processing of pending claims from genuine Sahara depositors
GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 8th Sept: The Ministry of Cooperation has restored the CRCS-Sahara Refund Portal to resume verification and processing of pending claims from genuine depositors of Sahara Group cooperative societies.
The Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies (CRCS) has so far refunded ₹9,267 crore to 41,56,711 depositors directly into their Aadhaar-seeded bank accounts. Around 20 lakh applications remain to be processed, and verification and refund processing of these claims has now resumed.
The refund mechanism covers eligible depositors of Sahara Credit Cooperative Society Ltd., Lucknow; Saharayn Universal Multipurpose Society Ltd., Bhopal; Humara India Credit Cooperative Society Ltd., Kolkata; and Stars Multipurpose Cooperative Society Ltd., Hyderabad.
According to the Ministry, processing had been disrupted following operational and administrative constraints affecting the cooperative societies, including issues related to IT infrastructure, hardware, annual maintenance contracts, software licences and human resources.
The Ministry said it worked with stakeholders, including officials and authorities of the Uttar Pradesh Government, to resolve the administrative, financial, operational and technology-related hurdles and restore the systems required for verification and processing of claims.
The CRCS-Sahara Refund Portal, launched on July 18, 2023, enables depositors to submit claims through a digital and paperless process. Claims are verified through Aadhaar e-KYC and matching of depositor, membership and bank-account details with records provided by the respective societies.
Deposit certificates, receipts and other prescribed documents are scrutinised according to the approved Standard Operating Procedure. Following successful verification, eligible refund amounts are credited directly to the depositor’s Aadhaar-seeded bank account.
The Ministry advised depositors to use only the official CRCS-Sahara Refund Portal for submitting fresh claims and the designated resubmission portal for rectifying errors in submitted claims when required. It also urged depositors to follow the prescribed process and document requirements and avoid unauthorised channels.
