The much expected judgment in the case of NCCT delinking from NCUI proved elusive yet again on Thursday when the argument in the case was postponed to a date in October. The NCUI headquarters which was agog with the excitement of receiving the good news since morning with their legal experts’ confidence of winning the case, slumped into disappointment by the evening.
The matter did come up for hearing at around 2.30 pm but the Honourable Judge adjourned the case for October 8, said NCUI Chief Executive N Satyanarayan, who is pursuing the case as a matter of life and death.
Nobody, not even the Ministry side requested for adjournment of the hearing and it was the Judge himself who suo motto posted the matter for hearing in October. In fact, he was weighed down by 4-5 cases in hand in the second half of Thursday and before the matter could be opened up he adjourned it.
“Though NCUI officials and lawyers were present in full strength in the court, it was only Ministry’s lawyer’s assistant who was present when the Judge postponed hearing.
It was in July when the last hearing of the case had taken place. It is said that NCUI Advocate Krishnan Dayal had argued his points well and had said that the move by the govt is aimed at weakening the apex cooperative body. He also quoted the relevant bylaws and tried to convince the court of the untenability of the govt move.
The Bench asked the govt lawyer to reply, on which they sought time. But the Court insisted that the rejoinder from the govt side should not be lengthy. The respondents were asked to give to-the-point reply not exceeding one or two pages.
It bears recall that NCUI had received a letter from Agriculture Ministry with the title “Establishing National Council of Cooperative Training (NCCT) as an independent, Central and Professional entity-delinking from National Cooperative Union of India”.
The letter says that due to NCUI’s control, NCCT failed to achieve its aims. The reputation of its premier institute VAMNICOM also suffered due to intense politicking and mismanagement. These facts are vehemently opposed by the NCUI.