Malti Singh, the wife of the outgoing Chairman Ram Iqbal Singh has been elected unopposed as the Chairperson of NACOF in the election held recently at its headquarters in New Delhi. The clever move is aimed to circumvent the Multi-state Cooperative Act that explicitly bars Ram Iqbal Singh from seeking re-election.
Some of Ram Iqbal’s detractors compared the development to Lalu-Rabri coup in Bihar. Lalu successfully launched Rabri Devi as the Chief Minister of the state when he himself was barred by the court, recalled people. Ram Iqbal’s two sons are already on the Nacof Board, making it a complete family enterprise, they noted.
At the Nacof , the election of Vice-Chairman could not be held because no one filed nomination papers for the post, informed V K Dubey who has been appointed as the Returning officer to oversee the election process.
Amit Singh who is the son of Govind Singh, former Cooperative Minister, Madhya Pradesh has been also elected as the director on the board of NACOF. Earlier in the outgoing board he was co-opted but this time he has been elected as the director.
Besides, all the directors have been elected unopposed, in an election held on a day prior to the elections of Chairman and Vice-Chairman. Most of the members of the outgoing board have been re-elected unopposed.
Soon after the election, Ranjit Singh, one of the winning directors, wrote on his facebook wall, “Got Elected as Director of National Federation of Farmers’ Procurement, Processing and Retailing Cooperatives of India Ltd, (NACOF)”. Incidentally, Ranjit is the younger brother of Ajit Singh of Nafed fame.
The Nacof board comprises over 18 elected directors- five directors elected from the member societies registered by Registrar of Cooperative Societies of states, seven from the Multi State Cooperative Societies, having areas of operation in four and more states, four from Multi-state cooperative societies having areas of operation in two states but less than four states. And two directors are elected from member societies, which have subscribed 25 lakh or more than the share capital of Nacof.
The filling of nomination papers was held on 20 March 2021 and the scrutiny was held on 21st March 2021. The display of valid nomination papers was on 21st March. The final list after withdrawal was published on 21st March 2021.
In the 2019-20 financial year, NACOF achieved sales turnover of Rs 901 crore as several state governments had been using the NACOF services for procurement of Wheat, Paddy under MSP.
Also, various state civil supplies corporations and state Government Departments are patronizing NACOF for procurement of their needs e.g. Pulses, Sugar, Edible Oil etc. The Nacof reported a net profit of Rs.2.14 crore before tax.