Onil John Almeida has been elected as the Chairman of Maharashtra based 99th years old urban cooperative bank- Bassein Catholic Cooperative Bank on Monday in its’ headquarters in Vasai replacing Vice-Chairman Yuri Gonsalves officiating as the Chairman.
Almeida from the ‘Aapla Panel’ received 12 votes whereas his rival Wilson Domnic Machado got only 6 votes. “18 Directors exercised their rights to vote in which 12 voted for Almeida”, announced Sunil Kulkarni, the returning officer appointed to oversee the bank election.
The Chairmanship of the bank was vacant for several days after the rejection of Special Leave Petition (SPL) of the outgoing Chairman Sachin Pereira by Supreme Court upholding the Bombay High Court decision barring him from being the Chairman as well as being on the board because Pereira’s wife had given birth to a third child. The strange Maharashtra Co-op Act debars a person from occupying the top post should he have more than two children.
The Section 73 CA (1) (vii) of Maharashtra Cooperative Societies Act 1960 says that a person having more than 2 children shall be ineligible for being elected, nominated, appointed or co-opted for being a member of a committee of the society registered under the Act , 1960.
Soon after getting elected as the Chairman of the Bank Onil John Almeida said “Today I was elected as the Chairman of bank and 12 directors had voted in favor of me. I know the lay of the land as I have been on the board of the bank for 10 years”, he said.
“Adoption of the latest world class technology in the UCB is on the top of my agenda and I would ensure its execution in the operations of the bank sooner than later”, he told this correspondent on the phone.
Many people known to Almeida sent him their congratulations through social media on his election as the Chairman of the bank.
One of them wrote “Congratulations Oneil Almeida Saheb and Best of Luck for new assignment as Chairman of BCCB”. “Congratulations sir; this year is the 100th year and the bank is in the mood of celebrations”, another wrote.
Presently, the bank is busy giving final touches to a gala event to be held on the completion of its 100th year in February. The bank’s functionaries are also busy inviting very important people including some ministers for the event. “We nurse the ambition of inviting even the Prime Minister of the land to the event”, said one of the directors of the UCB.
The Bassein Catholic Cooperative Bank was established by Social reformer P.J.Monis, Christian missionary on 6 February 1918 in Vasai. The Bank has a network of about 58 branches and it earned a net profit of Rs 75 crore in the last financial year.
