Maharashtra Gokul Dairy row: Fadnavis says he backs institution, not any individual amid chairman election controversy

Maharashtra Chief Minister CM Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday defended the state governments decision to appoint four nominated directors to the board of Gokul Dairy saying his support was for the cooperative institution and not any individual amid a political controversy over the chairmans electionI am supporting the institution not any individual I am not behind any particular person Fadnavis said while responding to questions about the controversy at a Diwali gathering hosted at his official residence Varsha in Mumbai according to news agency PTIThe row centres on the election of the chairman of the Kolhapur District Cooperative Milk Producers Union Ltd popularly known as Gokul Dairy and the Maharashtra governments ordinance granting voting rights to four additional directors nominated to its boardIn the 25member newly elected board the panel led by Congress Member of Legislative Council MLC Satej Patil secured a narrow majority last month by winning 13 seats leaving the Mahayutibacked panel with 12However the Bharatiya Janata Party BJPled Mahayuti government subsequently passed an ordinance and nominated four additional directors with voting rights triggering objections from Opposition parties Despite questions over the retrospective application of the ordinance the government decided that all 29 directors including the four nominees would be eligible to participate in the November 10 chairmans electionFadnavis explains governments decisionExplaining the legal complications surrounding the cooperative Fadnavis said one group had 13 members and the other 12 while 14 members were required to constitute a quorumNeither group could independently meet the quorum requirement or elect a chairman on its own strength he pointed outCM Fadnavis said the government could have taken control of the institution immediately after the board elections if that had been its intention adding that it had sufficient time to appoint directors and assume controlHe further stated that the four members were appointed only after it became clear that Gokul could not meet the quorum requirementThe appointments were subsequently challenged before the Bombay High Court According to Fadnavis the court found no defect in the relevant legal provision but directed that the votes of the four nominated directors be kept separate until the final verdict while allowing the election process to proceedThe matter is now sub judice he addedFadnavis said he had earlier suggested that the issue could be resolved through a consensus among Satej Patil NCP minister Hasan Mushrif and Vinay Kore of the Jan Surajya Party He had also offered to send representatives even after the legal amendmentHowever the controversy had now acquired a political colour he said pointing to Congress MP Rahul Gandhis involvement in an issue concerning a cooperative institution with only 5000 votersGokul Dairy has an annual turnover of more than Rs 4000 croreCM defends credentials of nominated directorsFadnavis also defended the four nominated directors saying all of them had experience in the cooperative sector and their credentials had been certified by the Deputy Registrar of Cooperative SocietiesResponding to criticism over one of the appointees being a gynaecologist the Chief Minister said a persons professional background should not prevent them from contributing to the cooperative sectorThe dairy business is not the only important thing the cooperative sector itself is important he saidBombay HC allows nominated directors to voteCM Fadnaviss remarks came a day after the Bombay High Court refused to stay the Maharashtra governments ordinance granting voting rights to the four nominated directorsHearing a petition challenging the constitutional validity of the ordinance the Aurangabad bench of the High Court on Monday ruled that the four nominated directors could participate in and vote in the November 10 chairmans election of Gokul DairyHowever the court directed that their votes be kept in a separate ballot box until the final outcome of the legal proceedingsMeanwhile Opposition leaders and dairy farmers staged a massive protest in Kolhapur alleging a blatant assault on cooperative democracy over the governments decision to nominate the four directorsWith PTI inputs