Bombay High Court at Goa, in an interim order, restrained former Panaji MLA’s wife Sonia Kuncalienker and Prabhu Gaude from voting in the elections for the post of chairman and vice chairman of the Goa Urban Cooperative Bank (GUCB), reports Times of India.
The interim stay was granted after Anil Gaunekar, whose panel won the recent elections to the board of directors at GUCB, approached the court seeking stay on the appointment of Kuncalienker and Gaude as directors of the bank.
While the strength of the board stands at 11, only nine candidates were elected as directors of the cooperative bank. No qualified candidates contested the two reserved category posts. The registrar of cooperative societies, Gurudas Pilarnekar appointed Kuncalienker and Gaude.
Gaunekar approached the HC stating that the state registrar is not authorised to appoint persons as directors of the bank and sought a stay on the state BJP government’s appointments till the court passed a judgment on the issue.
The court observed that it was apparent that the registrar of cooperative societies had appointed the two directors to the GUCB Board in a clear violation of Section 60(3) of the Goa Co-operative Societies Act, without any justifiable reason.