Banas dairy which is headed by former GCMMF Chairman Parthi Bhai Bhatol has also joined the chorus by filing a petition against Vipul Chaudhary, the incumbent Chairman of GCMMF.
Banas dairy as others like Ahmedabad, Bhavnagar and Panchmahal district dairy unions are contesting Chaudhary’s petition on bylaws in which the latter says that members cannot call a Board meeting of GCMMF.
The court has decided to hear application along with the main petition filed by Chaudhary on Thursday.
The Amul owning cooperative colossus the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation[GCMMF] is mired down in factional warfare. Many GCMMF board members oppose the incumbent head of the federation Vipul Chaudhary and want him to quit without delay. In a move that underscores their determined opposition to Mr. Chaudhary , they have gone to the Gujarat High Court asking for the court’s permission to move their no-confidence motion against him.
The three milk producers unions affiliated to the GCMMF have filed a petition in the court to join as a party to the plea filed by Chaudhary challenging the meeting of the board to discuss no-confidence against him. This is being seen as a move to raise the ante against him. Earlier the High Court had stayed the board meeting.
Chaudhary is facing opposition from a majority of board members over mismanagement in Mehsana District Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union, and for meeting Congress vice-chairman Rahul Gandhi with an eye on National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) top job. Mehsana Union is also headed by Vipul Chaudhary. As many as 17 out of 14 board members of Rs 13,700 crore GCMMF had moved a no-confidence motion against Chaudhary.
In a strong worded letter to Mehsana Union vice-chairman, GCMMF took on Mehsana Union over a number of issues including big loans availed by the union and subsequent interest burden, offering cattlefeed worth Rs 22.50 crore to Maharashtra farmers free of cost without taking the approval of union’s board and selling milk powder to private players at lower rates while over looking the federation’s advice.