Mr Ekanath Thakur, the freshly re-elected Chairman of Saraswat bank has packed his Board with reputed bankers. The charismatic leader, who created history of sorts by getting elected unopposed along with his panel of 15 directors, chose his Board with the aim of professionalizing the Bank more and more.
His team comprises of well-known senior level retired Bankers. For the first time, he has brought a senior IAS retired civil servant as a Director to the Board. The additions to the Board now include Shri A. G. Joshi, former Chairman of Dena Bank; Shri P. N. Joshi, former Chairman of United Western Bank; Shri Jagdish Pai, former Executive Director of Canara Bank; Shri S. N. Sawaikar, former Deputy Managing Director of State Bank of India and Shri S. S. Davra, IAS (retired), former Director, FERA, a Senior Civil Servant.
In the past, Shri Thakur’s panel had been elected with a massive majority of over 93% votes but never was it unopposed. This unopposed election is a resounding and unequivocal affirmation of the faith that over 1,68,000 shareholders of the Bank all over India have reposed in Shri Thakur.
In a Special General Meeting held on Wednesday, 10th August, 2011 at Kohinoor Hall, Prabhadevi, the Returning Officer, Shri H. P. Gemini declared results of the election for a Five Year Period, i.e. 2011-16. Shri Ekanath Thakur, former MP (Rajya Sabha) was elected Chairman and Shri Sushil Sanzgiri was elected Vice Chairman unanimously by the Board of Directors after declaration of the election results.
Under Bye-law No 54 of the Multi State Co-operative Societies Act 2002, the Board shall consist of Sixteen Members. Out of these 16 members it is mandated that 10 must be from Mumbai, 4 from outside Mumbai but within Maharashtra and 2 from outside Maharashtra but within India, where the Bank has its branches.
Accordingly, the newly elected members to the Board are (from Mumbai) : Shri E. K. Thakur (Chairman), Shri S. S. Sanzgiri (Vice Chairman), Shri M. K. Mantri, Shri N. R. Warerkar, Shri K. V. Rangnekar, Shri S. N. Sawaikar, Shri S. S. Shirodkar, Dr. (Mrs.) A. P. Samant, Shri A. A. Pandit, Shri S. B. Samant; (from outside Mumbai but within Maharashtra) :
Shri H. M. Rathi, Shri S. V. Saudagar, Shri P. N. Joshi, Shri A. G. Joshi; (from outside Maharashtra but within India) : Shri Jagdish Pai K. L. and Shri S. K. Davra – All Directors.
Shri Thakur’s victory was a foregone conclusion since only two nomination papers had been filed against his panel of 16 nominees. Before the date of withdrawal, these two nominees also withdrew their applications and the E.K. Thakur panel of sixteen members was elected unopposed to the Board.
As the new Board steps into office, the Bank is all geared up to achieve Dr. Adarkar Mission III of total business level of Rs. 50,000 crore in 2016, a bank communiqué reads.