Erring bank members to face heat

State govt has ammended Cooperative Act to debar board members from polls

The Maharashtra government has decided to amend a cooperative law to debar board members of cooperative banks that were dissolved due to corruption, from contesting bank polls for 10 years. The government will soon bring in an ordinance in this regard and then get it approved from the legislature.

The decision is a setback for leaders of all parties including NCP’s Ajit Pawar, Vijay Singh Mohite Patil and Hasan Mushrif; Congress leader Madhukar Chavan, BJP leader Pandurang Phundkar, Shiv Sena leader Anandrao Adsul and PWP leader Jayant Patil and Meenakshi Patil, who were board members of the state cooperative bank. The government said that the move was taken based on the recommendations by the RBI. However, Congress and NCP have dubbed it a political move to end the cooperative movement.

In a Cabinet meeting held on Tuesday, the state decided to debar the corrupt board members of cooperative banks from contesting polls. “The decision has been taken to end corruption in the cooperatives. The board members involved in corruption should not be allowed to contest polls again,” Cooperatives minister Chandrakant Patil told reporters after the meeting. The government will make changes in the Maharashtra Cooperative Societies Act 1960 section 73 (A)(C) to and add subsection (3A) to make the above provision, he added.

A few cooperative institutions have gotten corrupt in the last few years due to alleged graft by their own board members. One of the biggest examples was of the state cooperative bank. The politicians, Mr Pawar, were the members of the board then. Congress and NCP leaders dominate the cooperative movement while BJP and Shiv Sena have little influence in the sector. The movement was started in western Maharashtra to strengthen farmers.

Congress and NCP have cried foul over the decision and doubted BJP’s intentions about the decision. “The BJP and Shiv Sena leaders cannot enter the cooperative movement and hence they are destroying it. Many of them are moneylenders and don’t understand the importance of cooperative movement,” NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said.

Leader of Opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil alleged that the government is trying to dictate terms to the cooperative movement. “The government can always take action against irregularities in the cooperative sector, but it should not misuse the Act,” he said.