Goa Urban Bank election date soon

PANAJI: The office of the Registrar of Cooperative Societies (RCS) is likely to finalise the date for election to the two posts of directors of Goa Urban Cooperative Bank (GUCB) in the coming week, said sources.


Speaking to STOI, GUCB officials said registrar Sanjiv Gadkar has initiated the election process and asked the bank to prepare a provisionary list of eligible voters by October 11. The RCS initiated the process after the Supreme Court, on September 21, dismissed the special leave petition filed by the RCS challenging an order of the high court of Bombay at Goa.

The state government had appointed ex-MLA Sidharth Kuncalienker’s wife, Sonia, and Prabhu Gaude as directors of the bank, a move which the high court set aside on August 1.

On behalf of the state government, Gadkar had sought a stay on the order and petitioned the apex court to reinstate Kuncalienker and Gaude as directors of the bank.

“The provisional list will be published and people will have to give their objections. After that, the final list will be prepared and then the elections will be announced,” a senior bank official said.

A bank senior director said the high court could take suo moto cognizance of the delay in holding the election since no stay had been granted by the apex court or high court. The lack of clarity over the constitution of the board of directors has been dragging on since May 2017, when Anil Gaunekar, a director, filed a petition challenging the appointment of the two directors by the government.