The Bombay High Court’s Kolhapur Bench has reportedly ruled against the candidature of directors who have completed ten consecutive years on cooperative bank boards, bringing fresh focus to the tenure controversy in Maharashtra. The ruling relates to the Satara District Central Cooperative Bank (DCCB) elections.
Meanwhile, a separate petition filed by the Kolhapur District Urban Banks Cooperative Association Ltd. and 26 other cooperative banks, challenging the interpretation of the directors’ tenure provision, is scheduled for hearing on October 16, 2026.
According to media reports, Justice Shailesh Brahme ruled on challenges to the candidature of Satara DCCB outgoing Vice-Chairman Anil Desai and outgoing Director Rajendra Rajpure.
Their nomination papers had been accepted by the Returning Officers on October 5 but were challenged by Shiv Sena’s Sanjay More and Chandrakant Kokate, respectively, on the ground that both candidates had completed more than ten consecutive years as directors.
After hearing both sides, the court reportedly held that directors completing ten consecutive years would be ineligible to contest cooperative bank elections. Sanjay More, who challenged Rajpure’s candidature, confirmed the court’s decision to an Indian Cooperative correspondent over the phone. He said the written order had not yet been uploaded on the court’s website.
Reacting to the decision, Satara DCCB outgoing Vice-Chairman Anil Desai told Indian Cooperative that he was yet to receive a copy of the court order but would challenge the Kolhapur Bench’s decision before the Supreme Court.
The Satara ruling comes ahead of the October 16 hearing in a petition filed in 2025 by the Kolhapur District Urban Banks Cooperative Association Ltd. and 26 other cooperative banks. The petition challenges the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) interpretation of Section 10A(2A)(i) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, concerning the tenure of cooperative bank directors.
The Banking Laws (Amendment) Act, 2025, extended the maximum continuous tenure of cooperative bank directors, excluding Chairpersons and Whole-time Directors, from eight to ten years with effect from August 1, 2025.
The petitioning banks argue that the amendment should apply prospectively and that the tenure completed before August 1, 2025, should not be counted retrospectively to disqualify directors from contesting elections.
In an order dated December 12, 2025, the High Court rejected the banks’ request for interim relief. A subsequent correction issued on June 23, 2026, clarified that directors completing ten years on or after August 1, 2025, would also be ineligible to contest elections. The main petition, however, remains pending.
The tenure issue has also raised questions over the role of Returning Officers. The Maharashtra Cooperation Department had clarified that Returning Officers cannot reject nominations solely on the ground that candidates have completed ten consecutive years as directors. This followed an August 18, 2026, legal opinion by the Law and Judiciary Department, endorsing the position put forward by Vidyadhar Anaskar, Administrator of the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank.
With Anil Desai stating that he intends to challenge the decision before the Supreme Court and the separate petition by 26 cooperative banks coming up for hearing on October 16, the tenure issue is likely to remain a major point of discussion in Maharashtra’s cooperative banking sector.
