By I C Naik
The cooperative movement is being relegated to back burner due to the political expediency of the state govt in Maharashtra. The Internal politics of the Government is bent upon making the sacrosanct legal document known as the Indian Constitution is made to bite the dust here.
The Congress is trying to postpone the appointment of a state cooperative election commissioner (SCEC) till May 2014 for fear of an NCP majority in the cooperative sector, a senior Congress leader has reportedly said.
It appears to be grand design (sort of long lasting conspiracy very succinctly hatched in political circles) to side track State’s Constitutional duty to get enacted required statutes in a laid down time table under the Constitution.
According to the minister, if the NCP gains power in most cooperative societies, especially in western Maharashtra, it would be replicated in the national elections. Meanwhile, in the absence of a cooperative election authority, the state has (illegally in violation of Constitutional provision) given a six-month extension to the existing working committee of all cooperative societies in the state.
The state Cabinet had also sanctioned 44 out of 47 posts to establish the cooperative election authority on the lines of state election commission- the Commission is going headless till May 2014. What authority the 44 people have under which law is a matter beats all comprehension.
“The decision of appointing SCEC will be taken very soon. Till that, the cooperative department has taken the decision to extend the period of all cooperative societies till December-end,” said cooperative minister Harshavardhan Patil. If May 14 is contemplated for SCEC to resume functioning, how will such extension (though illegal) help fill the void after Jan 2014?
