PANAJI
The High Court of Bombay at Goa on Thursday set aside the order that directed the Kapila Sahakari Dudh Utpadak Vyavasayik Saunsthan Maryadit, Curti-Ponda, to disqualify Madhav Sahakari from his position as a director of the Goa State Cooperative Milk Producers Union Ltd.
According to the petitioner, on April 21, 2023, ten directors of the Milk Union, including himself, were disqualified from their positions based on what he described as a “completely wrong premise.”
“The petitioner’s disqualification as a director of the Milk Union has consequences only concerning his position in the Milk Union and has no bearing on his directorship in Kapila. There is no provision in the Act that provides for automatic disqualification merely because he was disqualified as a director of the Milk Union,” the petition argued.
The petitioner was the chairman of Kapila, a society formed under the Goa Cooperative Societies Act. The Milk Union, being a federal society, consists of various primary societies as its members, with Kapila being one such member.
The Division Bench of Justices M S Karnik and Nivedita Mehta observed that disqualifying the petitioner as a member of Kapila had serious consequences. “In our opinion, the petitioner should have been given an opportunity to be heard before the order was passed. The order was issued in breach of the principles of natural justice. We, therefore, have no hesitation in setting it aside,” the court stated.
