A week after Mahayuti loss in Gokul elections, state decides to amend law on cooperative societies

MUMBAI: A fortnight after Mahayuti lost the elections to the Kolhapur District Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union, popularly known by its brand name Gokul, the Maharashtra cabinet on Wednesday approved an amendment to the Maharashtra Cooperative Societies Act, 1960, allowing the appointment of five government-nominated directors to the boards of cooperative institutions with an annual turnover exceeding ₹500 crore

MUMBAI: A fortnight after Mahayuti lost the elections to the Kolhapur District Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union, popularly known by its brand name Gokul, the Maharashtra cabinet on Wednesday approved an amendment to the Maharashtra Cooperative Societies Act, 1960, allowing the appointment of five government-nominated directors to the boards of cooperative institutions with an annual turnover exceeding ₹500 crore. The cabinet has granted voting rights in the election of the chairperson to four of the five nominees.

A week after Mahayuti loss in Gokul elections, state decides to amend law on cooperative societies

While the government statement claims that “the move is aimed at improving transparency, professional management and financial accountability in large cooperative institutions while preventing administrative deadlocks arising from a lack of quorum or an evenly divided board” among other things, the move is being viewed as a blatant attempt by the BJP to gain backdoor entry to the Gokul board. The Congress-backed Rajarshi Shahu Shetkari Samvichari Aghadi (RSSSA) led by Satej Patil won 13 of the 25 seats on the board on October 19.

Significantly, the government’s decision comes after BJP leader and minister Chandrakant Patil wrote to CM Devendra Fadnavis just two days before the Gokul elections, proposing increasing the number of government-nominated directors from two to four in cooperative institutions with an annual turnover exceeding ₹3,000 crore.

Satej Patil is expected to challenge the cabinet decision in court. “Despite securing a clear mandate, the elected panel has been denied the right to appoint the chairperson,” he said. “Any attempt to amend the law or increase the number of government-nominated directors to overturn the people’s mandate will strike at the root of the cooperative movement. Gokul represents 1,50,000 milk farmers, and their mandate must be respected.”

The Opposition charged the BJP with constantly using underhand means to influence the elections. “First, the cooperation department attempted to disqualify milk societies supporting the RSSSA panel by questioning their eligibility to vote,” said a Congress leader. “The societies had to approach the court to secure their voting rights. Subsequently, the ruling alliance-backed panel raised objections to minor errors during the counting of votes on October 19. This led to a reduction of two seats for the RSSSA panel. Patil’s letter appears to have been written in anticipation of the Mahayuti-backed panel’s defeat.”

The Opposition-backed RSSSA has now decided to approach a higher court, citing the Gujarat high court’s 2022 ruling in the Amul Dairy case. The Gujarat high court had struck down the Gujarat government’s October 2020 decision to nominate three directors to the Amul Dairy board, a move challenged by the Congress-backed panel, which alleged that the appointments were intended to prevent it from securing the chairperson’s post. “Citing that judgment, we have decided to fight this battle in the higher courts and take it to the Supreme Court,” a Congress leader from Kolhapur said.

According to cooperation department officials, the government’s decision could face legal scrutiny. “Granting voting rights to government-nominated directors raises questions about the legality of the arrangement and could be challenged in court,” said an official. “Even during the hearing before the Kolhapur circuit bench two days ago, the court indicated that it would consider the implications if such a decision were taken by the government.”