A serious fight is going on between Pratibha Ahuja, MD of the National Labour Cooperatives Federation of India (NLCF) and one of its directors Ashok Dabas, underlines the fact that the National Labour Cooperative Federation of India (NLCF) continues to be a hotbed of controversies.
The matter has gone to the office of the Central Registrar and may escalate to legal notices and police complaints. While Dabas accuses the MD of misappropriation of funds, among other things, MD has threatened to write to the Women Commission for threatening her before the staff-members.
The whole controversy started in the board meeting held over the Zoom after six months on 29 June 2020. The main agenda of the meeting was to elect an officiating Chairman as Sole Arbitrator Deepa Sharma had disqualified NLCF Chairperson Avili Mighito along with Vice Chairman Narendra Singh Rana and five other directors in February.
Talking to Indian Cooperative, Dabas claimed “The majority of directors were in my favour which reveals that I will be the officiating Chairman till the election is held. I have received 6 votes and my rival Amit Bajaj got only five votes. But the MD is creating hurdles and conducting the affairs in an illegal manner.”
It was clearly mentioned in Agenda No 2 that the board may take appropriate decisions for the early conduct of the election of the two vacant seats of Chairperson and one Vice- Chairperson on an appropriate date, he added.
“For this purpose, the election has to be conducted by a RO and a person authorized by the Board may approach/write to the Office of the Central Registrar who may appoint an RO for the conduct of the aforesaid elections on a suitable date. Meanwhile, until the aforesaid elections are conducted the Board may appoint a person to act as an Officiating Chairperson so that the work of NLCF is not hampered”, according to the agenda No-2.
After the board meeting, Dabas came to the NLCF office and pressured me to take action on the proceedings of the board. He threatened me in front of other staff members of the NLCF. He had drafted the minutes of the meeting and forced me to sign on the letter, she said.
On the contrary, Dabas accused the MD of indulging in misappropriation of funds. Dabas said, “In 2014 several primary societies of Kerala and Maharashtra had applied for the membership of NLCF and I came to know that there was a huge fund scam. Even Kerala’s membership application was not placed before the board. In this regard I have written scores of letters to the MD to give information but still there is no response”, he asserted.
Besides, in Sikkim a conference was organized by a local cooperative society held in 2018 but still dues have not been cleared after several reminders. There are several other charges of misuse of funds by the MD”, Dabas underlined.
Denying these charges, Ahuja said in 2014 I was not the MD of the society and if he found any discrepancy then why had he been silent for the past several years. Why did he suddenly remember?, she asked.
“Dabas is making allegations which have no basis. The dues of Sikkim conference have been cleared and we have received the no dues letter from the party”, Ahuja added.
In the wake of the threat, Ahuja has written a complaint against Ashok Dabas to all the BoDs and sources said that she will forward this to the women commission and local police. Dabas had also sent a legal notice to Ahuja.
There are several co-operators who are of the view that the issue has its genesis in the fight of Dabas with the former Chairman Sanjeev Kushalkar. They are of the view that the MD is acting on his behalf.
Earlier, the MD called the next board meeting on 10th of August 2020 but in the wake of violations of the Act in calling a board meeting, Dabas has written a letter to the Central Registrar for giving direction not to conduct a board meeting and got the success in getting the meeting cancelled.