SITA bans founder member for financial irregularities

The Salem IT Association (SITA) has decided to ban its founder member, S Dinakaramoorthy, Proprietor, Sree Jeeva Computer Systems, for financial irregularities. It has also terminated his membership from the association for defaulting on this payment.

The association has asked dealers in the region not to give any credit to the suspended dealer or have any business relationships with him.

“SITA learned that the dealer has applied for insolvency petition in the Salem Court. We also learned that he has asked for police protection claiming that there is a threat to his life from those people to whom he owes money. Considering the fact that such unethical activities would damage the dignity of the association, we had to take this extreme step,” informed P Jagadeeswaran, Joint Secretary, SITA.

He also said that all attempts to reach the dealer for understanding the situation went futile as Dinakaramoorthy's mobile was switched off. “He was the founder member of the association and we wanted to understand his situation and lend a helping hand to him. However, he remained unreachable for more than a week,” said Jagadeeswaran. When this correspondent tried to get in touch with Dinakaramoorthy to get his side of this story, he too was unsuccessful as the latter's mobile remained switched off.

Dinakaramoorthy is the third person to be terminated from the association. It may be noted that the practice of banning defaulters from the region was started a few months back with the ban on Vairamudi, Proprietor of VS Computers and A Suresh Anbu and Karthikeyan, Proprietors of Sreeram Hi-Tech for defaulting on payments worth Rs 8 lakh to Delh-based distributor Iris Computers.

“We want to create strong awareness among the channel community about payment defaults, as no dealer can manage to loose any amount at this point of time. We want our dealers to follow ethical trade practices, so that no channel member gets affected in the future. The association also wouldn't remain silent if any dealer involves himself in any activities that would damage the dignity of the association,” he claimed.

Commenting on the action taken against the defaulter, E Elango, President, SITA said that the association will look into such matters seriously. “Stringent action should be taken on people who use such unethical business tactics and the association did that immediately when we came to know about the issue,” Elango claimed.

N Nagendran, VP, SITA said that the association has brought in certain regulations in terms of credit limits and payment terms within the association, and they would be implementated soon.

Giving a brief on the new rules and regulations, S Prakash, CEO, Vashini System Solutions and former President SITA, said that any defaulter within the association would have to face the committee formed to look into the payment default cases and would be ousted from the association as well as trade within the region. “Payment is the most important thing today and we want our dealers to enjoy the business and have minimal grievances. That was the main reason behind the expulsion of the three partners from the association as well as business. And anyone who follows these kinds of practices will have to face stringent action from the association. These steps have become necessary at this point of time,” Prakash claimed.