The Orissa High Court has ordered that the existing elected board of management in central cooperative banks shall continue to act as interim committee in Sundargarh, Keonjhar and Sambalpur districts till further orders two days after having restrained the government nominated council from taking charges of Cuttack Urban Cooperative Bank.
The court also asked the Mayurbhanj bank to be under the supervision of Registrar of cooperatives by picking up its own council.
The court order assumed significance in the wake of the state government nominating some BJD leaders to the councils of several cooperative bodies after dismissing their respective elected councils by strength of an amended provision of Orissa Cooperative Societies Act on September 24.
The government notification was first challenged by the Vice-President of Cuttack Urban Bank Ranjita Kahali.
Elected members of other central cooperative bank councils also later approached the court challenging the state’s notification on the ground that it (notification) lacks constitutional validity.
A division bench of Justice B P Das and Justice S K Mishra had earlier this week made it clear that the Cuttack Urban Cooperative Bank should continue to function under the administrative control of an elected council.
