The Supreme Court has given a mixed ruling for Vipul Chaudhary in that while the court has upheld his removal from chairmanship Mehsana district cooperative milk producers’ union , it has offered him limited relief reducing his disqualification period from six years to four years for holding positions in the cooperative sector in Gujarat, reports Financial Express.
It bears recall that Chaudhary had been removed as the chairman of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation through a no-confidence motion by majority directors of the federation in 2013 for taking illegal decisions.
His decisions included rolling back an increase in the price of some commodities and supply of seeds to Maharashtra.
The court said “Chaudhary had committed serious type of administrative and financial irregularities as a consequence thereof, the Sangh has suffered financial loss on large scale”. The Court added that the disqualification order was passed after due compliance with the principles of natural
justice. However, the court said ‘’ the disqualification period of six years is not tenable and at best Chaudhary could be disqualified for a maximum period of four years’’.
Facing charges of alleged financial irregularities amounting to about Rs 1,200 crore in the cooperative union, Chaudhary had challenged his removal and disqualification for six years from participating in any election or to hold any post in the union and also any other cooperative organisation in the state.
Earlier hearing Chaudhary’s pleas, the Gujarat High Court had upheld his removal but quashed the Registrar’s order to the extent that the period of disqualification was reduced to three years. Both the state government and Chaudhary had appealed against the HC’s order in the Supreme Court.
