Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies Vivek Aggarwal has issued a letter suspending the ongoing election process of Fishcopfed till the completion of the arbitration proceedings. This has created a ruckus in the corridors of the apex body of fishery cooperatives-Fishcopfed.
Despite being aware of the suspension of the proceedings, Returning Officer is being alleged to have carried his job. The letter was issued on Thursday morning while Joseph Baxla, Assistant Registrar, Delhi appointed as the RO to oversee the election process, had carried out all the formalities of the election process including the release of the final list of candidates after withdrawal on the same day.
The office of Central Registrar mailed the letter to all the concerned persons including T Prasad Dora, Chairman, B K Mishra, MD, Fishcopfed, Joseph Baxla and other concerned persons at 1:10 P.M.
The letter was issued by the Central Registrar while hearing the petition filed by outgoing Vice-Chairman Ramdas Sandhe, whose name got rejected in the voters list.
The Central Registrar has appointed Sunil Kumar Singh, Additional Managing Director, National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd. (NAFED), New Delhi as an Arbitrator to settle the dispute of election of the Board of Directors.
The CR’s letter reads, “It is pointed out that as per sub-Section 5 of section 84 of the MSCS Act, 2002 save as otherwise provided under this Act, the provisions of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 shall apply to the arbitration under this Act as if the proceedings for arbitration were referred for settlement or decision under the provisions of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996.
“The fee and other expenses of Arbitrator shall be governed by the provisions of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996.The dispute has to be settled by the Arbitrator within the period of 60 days from the date of this order. In the meantime, the process of election is suspended till the completion of this arbitration proceedings”, the letter further reads.
Despite the suspension of the election, as the final list after withdrawal was released on Thursday afternoon, all the directors have been elected unopposed. 12 candidates had filed the nomination papers on Thursday and no nomination papers had been rejected during the scrutiny.
Only one candidate namely Sanjay Gajanand Kewat withdrew his nominations papers because from West Zone two candidates had filed their nomination papers from the same state i.e. Maharashtra. According to the bye-laws of Fishcopfed only one is to be elected from each state. So 11 out of 12 candidates who had filed the nomination papers have been elected unopposed. 1 seat is vacant from the said zone which will be filled later on.
However, the interesting thing about the election is that the former Chairman of Fishcopfed Prakash Lonare who had earlier made allegations against the outgoing president T Prasad Dora, is now enjoying a unique chemistry of understanding with him.
Earlier, one of the outgoing directors from Bihar, Rishikesh Kashyap had made an accusation against T. Prasad Dora of giving Rs 10 lakh as a bribe to the returning officer for rigging the election in his favor.
The elected directors include, T Prasad Dora, Konjengbam Singh, Rajulal Debbarma, Rakesh Nishad, Abdul Dar, Mohit Sonkar, Prakash Lonare, Dhani Raikwar, Jagpoojan Sahani, Barri Chhnnappa and S Madegowda.
