Directors of the third largest urban cooperative of India, SVC Cooperative Bank are busy washing their dirty linens in public as the UCB enters into the election mode. The election, which is scheduled for tomorrow (Sunday), has got candidates indulging in smearing and mud-slinging one another.
Ahead of the election, the candidates who are trying their luck are leaving no stone unturned in wooing the voters. The candidates from two different panels are contesting the election, in which one panel is being led by the SVC Bank outgoing Chairman Durgesh Chandavarkar and another panel is being headed by Ex-director of the Bank Ravi Pagare.
A few days back, Pagare had hogged the media headlines in the wake of a complaint filed by the Bank against him for using the Bank’s logo for campaigning on social media.
Pagare has also hit back hard. Talking to the Indian Cooperative correspondent on the phone, Pagare said,” The outgoing board is only focusing on encouraging the Gaud Saraswat Brahmins (GSB) community, not on others. The management had appointed Pravin Kadale as financial Advisor who belongs to their community and was giving Rs 4 lakh per month as a salary. But after the RBI objection, the outgoing management removed him in March 2022”.
“Why was there a need to appoint an advisor if there is MD and other knowledgeable officials in the bank and even the board is equipped with highly professional people”, he asked.
He further said, “Due to the insolence of the board, many top-notch officials have left the bank. When I was the director in the Bank between 2013-18, many new recruitments used to be done for various posts including that of Customer Service Officer and Customer Service Representative every year but, in the last five years, no recruitment has been made”.
“Somewhere in 2006, SVC Bank had taken over the Maharashtra based Mahavir Cooperative Bank and at that time the board assured the shareholders to give their money back but still shareholders are running from pillar to post to get back their shares”, said the contestant.
“There are around 25k shareholders who were associated with Mahavir Co-op bank and a share capital worth of over Rs 5.5 crore. Neither bank is paying dividend to them nor has given them the voting rights”, Pagare said.
The bank board comprises 15 directors (10 from General Category, 2 from Women and 1 from SC/ST category). In the elections for 15 seats, 29 candidates are fighting for securing a berth on the board. Out of 29 candidates, 15 are contesting from the Chandavarkar and 13 from Pagare’s Panel. Hemant Kombrabali is fighting the election as an independent.
There are 1.72 lakh voters and 125 voting centres have been made in different states where the bank has branches. The counting of votes will be done on 8th June 2023. Jayant Patil, Deputy Registrar, Mumbai has been appointed as the returning officer.
Meanwhile, Indian Cooperative efforts to contact the outgoing Chairman Durgesh Chandavarkar reaction on the election, failed so far as all the calls went unanswered. Sources said Chandavarkar’s nephew Devdutta Chandavarkar is also contesting elections.
