Maharashtra based Bombay Mercantile Cooperative Bank got embroiled in a legal fight when one of its shareholders Adv. Bahar U Barqi from Delhi filed a case against the Bank’s Chairman Zeeshan Mehdi and CEO Shah Alam with the central registrar.
Though the last hearing was slated for 12th March 2020 no hearing had since taken place as the central registrar had been busy carrying out his other obligations. The next hearing was scheduled on 24 April 2020 but due to Covid-19 no hearing took place.
Now, the next hearing on this case is scheduled for 26 June 2020.
The matter is related to arbitrarily helping their candidates in the election of the bank held in October 2019 for their own narrow interests. The candidates violated norms to win the election, said Barqi.
Barqi’s accusation is ” By managing to have a pliant returning officer, the bank Chairman Mehdi got my nomination papers cancelled on the ground that I am a defaulter of the bank. It was done in a pre-planned manner because Mehdi wanted to have his own men on the board, he accused.
“It is true that in 2004, I had taken a loan from the bank’s Delhi branch but it is wrong to say that I had not paid. At the time, my financial condition was not good and I failed to pay several instalments but after some days the bank announced a one-time settlement policy to recover the dues and I had cleared all my outstanding dues. From 2004-2019 the bank had not raised any objection that I am a defaulter of the bank? Barqi asked.
Accusing Shah Alam, CEO of the bank, Barqi said, “His Son Dr Misabah Alam Khan who has not completed three years of membership and then on what grounds he had been made the director of the bank. He stayed in Mumbai but fought the election from Hyderabad. Mehdi and Alam think that the bank is their personal fiefdom, he added.
Barqi further accused that during the inspection in 2016, in its scrutiny report RBI clearly holds Mehdi as a defaulter but he keeps on fighting the election of the bank and violating the norms. They both have hijacked the bank, he added.
Failing to respond to the queries raised by Indian Cooperative, Mehdi said” the matter is with the central registrar and we are waiting for his verdict. I will not comment on this matter” he slammed the phone.
Bombay Mercantile Cooperative has a total network of 52 branches in different states. The bank’s total business mix is Rs 5,000 crore.