One of the oldest cooperative institutions in the state, Goa Urban Cooperative Bank is mired in a controversy in the wake of the appointment of two directors who are said to be close associates of Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar. Besides being the CM of the state, Parrikar is also looking after the cooperative ministry of Goa.
One of the elected Directors Anil Guanekar who resisted BJP govt diktat of appointing two Directors on Board vows to continue the fight let what comes. It bears recall that he got a shot in his arm when the High Court gave a verdict in favor of Anil Gaunekar.
The High Court of Bombay at Goa has set aside the appointment of ex BJP MLA Sidharth Kuncalienkar wife Sonia Kuncalienkar and Prabhu Dulo Gaude as directors of Goa Urban Cooperative Bank. The HC has ordered the Registrar of Cooperative Society to conduct the election process within 45 days.
But as the RCS has decided to file a leave petition in the apex court, Gaunekar is also girding up his loins for the legal fight. Talking to this correspondent on the phone Anil Gaunekar narrated the story, “Last year the election of the bank had been conducted and there were two panels including the Anil Gaunekar and the Govind G. Kamat panels.”
Gaunekar further said that five candidates from the former and four candidates from the latter won the election of the bank but as the board comprises of 11 directors, the govt appointed two Directors. “I filed a petition in the court challenging their appointment”, he added.
Describing BJP govt’s modus operandi, Gaunekar said that without going through the election process, the government appointed an ex BJP MLA Sidharth Kuncalienkar’s wife Sonia Kuncalienkar and Prabhu Dulo Gaude as the directors of the bank. Besides me, the move was also opposed by a few other members of the board, Gaunekar informed.
Indian Cooperative was unable to contact RCS Sanjiv Gadkar but TOI quoted him saying, “Department would seek a stay on the high court’s order and also seek to reinstate Kuncalienker and Gaude as directors of the bank”.
If the election is conducted these two appointees cannot even contest; as according to the state cooperative act a candidate should have attended three general body meetings in five years but both of them have not attended any meeting, asserted Gaunekar who is on the board for 41 years.
The Goa Urban Co-operative Bank started functioning in 1964 at Panaji and the first branch of the Bank was opened at Margao in 1967. The bank has about 16 branches across Goa.