New MSFC chief snubbed on first day

Interestingly, former Sena minister Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil and Eknath Thakur — who had orchastrated the move to pass a resolution opposing Sopal’s nomination — chose not to attend Tuesday’s meeting. Two other directors, Goa Government nominee Nandan Kudchadkar and SICOM Managing Director AKD Jadhav, were also absent.

The meeting, turned out to be a boring affair for the directors as several subjects on the agenda were deferred by Sopal to the next meeting, said a director. "It seems that the Chairman had not done his homework before attending the meeting,"he quipped.

When contacted, Sopal said he was satisfied with the first meeting. "I don’t know why those who were keen to send me back, chose to stay away from the meeting," he said.

About his appointment, he said the government had the right to appoint the chairperson under Section 15 (5) of the State Financial Corporations Act. He also pooh-poohed the objection of Vikhe-Patil and others that the new appointee knew little about finance. "I was chairman of the Solapur district co-operative bank for three consecutive years and during that period, our bank had bagged the best bank award of NABARD," he pointed out.