Ajit Pawar
The legal counsel for former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar will on Monday file his response to the show cause notice issued to him by the district registrar of cooperative societies, regarding the suspension of his directorship of the Pune District Central Coopearative Bank (PDCC).
Notices were issued to Pawar and 43 other directors of various DCC banks after the recent amendments in the Cooperative Act.
The amendment, which was cleared by the state government earlier this year, had talked of barring directors of cooperative banks that have been dismissed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for financial irregularities. Other than Pawar, other senior NCP and Congress leaders were also issued such notices.
Names of NCP MP from Madha Vijaysingh Mohite Patil, MLA Dilip Sopal and Dilip Mane were on the list.
Pawar and others were on the board of the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank when it was dismissed by the RBI for alleged financial irregularities.
Directors of DCCs of Mumbai, Raigad, Ratnagiri, Nashik, Dhule Nandurbar, Ahmednagar,Pune, Kolhapur, Latur, Aurangabad, Amravati, Parbhani, Akola, Amravati and Yavatmal have also been issued notices in the state.
Almost 90 per cent of the leaders who got the notices are either from the NCP or the Congress. The process of issuing the notices started from January 30 this year.
The hearings are being held before the district joint registrar of cooperative society.
On Thursday, counsels for Mohite Patil, Sopal and Mane filed their say before the joint district registrar about the matter. Leaders from the NCP and the Congress have been vociferous in their criticism of the amendment, which they say was politically motivated.
The move has been challenged before various benches of the Bombay High Court. The Aurangabad bench of the High Court has referred the matter to the chief justice for final decision.
Attempts to reach Pawar were not successful.
