State to appoint five expert directors with voting rights to Gokul; Mushrif explains why

The tussle over the chairmanship of the Kolhapur District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union, known as Gokul, has taken another major turn. The state government has decided to appoint five expert directors to Gokul. The decision was approved at a state Cabinet meeting today. Notably, the five members have also been given the right to vote. This has raised the possibility of a change in the power equations at Gokul.

In the recent Gokul election, the Rajarshi Shahu Shetkari Samvichari Aghadi, led by Satej Patil, won 13 seats, while the Mahayuti had to settle for 12. Although the Aghadi has a majority, the issue of a quorum of 14 directors, needed to elect a chairman, was raised. In addition, the Mahayuti's 12 directors did not attend the very first meeting, so the chairman could not be elected.

Against this background, the government has decided to appoint five nominated expert directors. With these members getting the right to vote, discussion has begun on how the political arithmetic of the chairman's election will change.

Speaking on the Gokul chairman's election, Hasan Mushrif said, "The state government has brought this law, but whether it is my son or anyone else, he will not become an expert director. I think the government will appoint only such people who have no connection whatsoever with any party."

Mushrif said the election of the Kolhapur District Milk Producers' Union, known in western Maharashtra as Gokul Milk, was held a few days ago. According to him, the Congress-backed Rajarshi Shahu Samvichari panel won 13 seats and the Mahayuti 12. But the institution's bylaws set the quorum at 14. Mushrif said that without the quorum being met, neither the chairman's election nor the meeting can be held, and meeting the quorum requirement is legally mandatory.

He said the Mahayuti's 12 members stayed away from the first meeting, so the meeting could not be completed for want of a quorum. The same would have happened at the next meeting on the 10th. According to Mushrif, under the cooperative law, if the chairman's election meeting is adjourned two or three times, an administrator must be appointed to the institution and fresh elections must be held.

Mushrif said, "We 12 members are in the opposition. We have been given the responsibility of the opposition. The people have not given us the message that we should go to the meeting and get their (the Congress's) chairman elected. That is why we stayed away from the meeting. Under Gokul's bylaws, a chairman cannot be elected without a quorum of 14 members. If this meeting had been cancelled two or three times, the law would have required an administrator to be appointed at Gokul. The government found this way to avoid harm to 5 to 5.5 lakh milk-producing farmers and to keep democracy alive by avoiding an administrator."

Mushrif also said the law would not apply to ordinary institutions. According to him, it will apply only to three such institutions in the state, those with an annual turnover above Rs 500 crore, which have received government land, grants or share capital, and which are federal in nature. Taking a swipe at opponents, Mushrif said they were levelling baseless allegations at the government without any study or knowledge, merely out of misunderstanding.