Show cause notice to Ajit Pawar, 43 others

The show cause notices have been issued after the state government cleared an amendment in the law to debar cooperative banks directors who have been pulled up by Reserve Bank of India for alleged irregularities from elections for 10 years.

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The amendment — which evoked sharp criticism from opposition parties — will also be applied retrospectively, and this can translate into directors elected in the past losing their position. In 2011, the Reserve Bank of India had superseded the Board of directors of the Maharashtra State Central Cooperative Bank, of which Pawar was a director. Between 2011 and the passage of the amendment in January 2016, elections to the PDCC were held and Pawar re-elected the director.

Apart from Pawar, NCP MP Vijaysingh Mohite Patil, NCP MLAs Dilip Sopal (Solapur), Hasan Mushrif (Kolhapur), former MP Nivedita Mane(Kolhapur), Shivajirao Nalawade (Mumbai) and others have been issued such notices. Congress leader Dilip Deshmukh, Ramprasad Bordikar, Peasants and Workers Party MLC Jawant Patil (Raigad) and the lone CPI MLA Jeeva Pandu Gavit are among other leaders to get the notice.

These directors are at present on the board of the DCCs of Mumbai, Raigad, Ratnagiri,Nashik, Dhule, Nandurbar, Ahemnagar,Pune, Kolhapur, Latur, Aurangabad, Amravati, Parbhani, Akola, Amravati and Yavatmal. Close to 90 per cent of the leaders who got the notices are either from the NCP or the Congress. The process of issuance of notices started from January 30,2016. Senior officials of the cooperative department said these leaders will now be issued a legal notice after 15 days. After that, the respective district registrar of cooperative bodies will hold hearing as per the Cooperative Act.

Senior NCP leader Ankush Kakade termed the notice a political stunt by the state. “The present government feels threatened by the stronghold NCP and Congress have in the cooperative sector and these notices, which have been issued on the basis of a Cabinet decision, are a clear proof of it. It would have made sense if the notices were issued post the amendment to the law by the Assembly,” he said. The leaders who have been issued the notice will seek legal redress, Kakade added.