STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Senior Advocate Balbir Singh Manhas, who headed eight-member panel for the elections of Board of Directors of the Citizens’ Co-operative Bank Limited (CCBL), on Wednesday urged Deputy Commissioner being the election authority to remove the Returning Officer (RO) so as to instill confidence in the contestants and make the entire electoral process transparent and free from any influence.
Talking to media persons here today, former Chairman of the Bank, Manhas said that the last elections were conducted on September 17, 2012 for a period of three years as mandated under Section 29 of the Co-operative Societies Act however the incumbent board continued upto December 2, 2016 though illegally and was superseded by the Registrar Co-operative Societies.
“At that juncture the administrator appointed was required to hold the elections which are now being held by Zaffar Ahmed Banday, Deputy District Election Officer, Jammu who has been appointed as a RO. Out of the nine elected members of the superseded board six persons have opted to contest the present election and it was incumbent upon the RO to permit only 50 per cent out of the said board to remain in the fray as required in terms of Rule 18 (ff) and (fff) read with Rule 25 (1) (e) of the Co-operative Societies Rules,” he said.
He added that it is unfortunate that the RO has failed to adhere to the statutory provisions and permitted six persons out of the superseded board to contest, the elections, thereby invalidating the whole of the electoral process.
The RO, he said, either is ignorant of the rule position or has deliberately committed the mischief so as to enable one of the ineligible persons to remain in the electoral battle despite clear cut provisions of law.
The elections are being held on a working day i.e. 23rd August 2017 and most of the polling stations are located in government schools and that too girl schools, he said adding that a request was extended to registrar for holding the elections on any Sunday but the same has not been responded till date.
To have maximum participation of the electorate and also to avoid any unpleasant situation especially in the girls school, he said, the administration must look into this aspect of the matter and decide accordantly.
He requested Deputy Commissioner to immediately remove the RO for transparent elections.
