The Bombay High Court has rejected the petition of the outgoing President of NAFCUB Mukund Abhyankar challenging his ouster through a motion of no-confidence. The court has asked the petitioner to first follow the route of arbitration mediated by the Central Registrar.
Abhyankar had challenged his ouster on the ground that no separate Board meeting was called to discuss the lack of confidence in the President. Rather in a routine Board meeting the matter was taken up and passed in unseemly haste.
It could be recalled that Jyotindra Mehta was declared elected last Sunday in an election that saw a keen contest. Mehta bagged 14 votes while the runner up Mr Manam Anjaneyulu could muster only 5 votes. The result was subject to a court judgment on a petition filed by Abhyankar protesting his ouster through a no-confidence motion in the 25th February Board meeting.
Meanwhile, the Nafcub Advocate wrote a mail to the Central Registrar enquiring if a request for arbitration has been made by the Abhyankar or Cosmos Bank in the matter. He did not receive an affirmative reply and the Ministry’s email-response was presented before the High Court on Tuesday as a proof of side-stepping the usual course by Abhyankar and his team.
Rejecting their petition the Court asked the petitioners to follow first the route of arbitration.
Satish Mararthe, patron of Sahakar Bharati says in his FB wall “Yesterday the Mumbai High Court dismissed the petition filed by Sh Abhyankar/Cosmos Bank.”
Later justifying Abhyankar’s ouster through a no-confidence meeting Marathe says” at a meeting convened by the Central Registrar of just 5 UCBs, Sh Abhyankar supported privatisation of UCBs.”
Soon after the High Court directive Abhyankar said to Indian Cooperative ”I am not against the urban cooperative bank sector as such and in fact I wish them well. I have known the RBI for the past 40 years and know that it is not against UCBs as such; what they are against is mis-management of UCBs. The RBI also wants it to get a little more professional both in terms of technology and man-power, he underlined.
Touching upon the issue of securing level playing field for UCBs vis a vis commercial banks Marathe opines that Nafcub needs to engage with the RBI and empower itself by asking the Union Govt to amend the Banking Regulation Act.
”The Nafcub issue is not so significant for me as even if I win I cannot work for as many as eleven directors are opposed to me. Besides, I would be the last person who could ever think of weakening the urban cooperative movement in the country”, concluded Abhyankar.