Cooperative blow for Naveen government

BHUBANESWAR: The Naveen Patnaik government has suffered yet another blow with the High Court restraining more than 10-nominated cooperative bodies from taking charge. The Government which amended the Cooperative Act, had recently superseded the elected bodies and placed nominated ones in their place. However, the State Government’s decision has been set aside by the HC in the case of more than 10 cooperative bodies. Restraining the nominated bodies from taking over, the HC has reinstated the earlier elected bodies. The reinstated bodies have been asked not to take any financial decision without consulting the registrar of the cooperative societies. What has surprised the Opposition political parties is the manner in which the elected bodies were superseded. The nominated bodies were packed with all the rejected leaders of the BJD, former law minister Narsingh Mishra alleged. The cooperative bodies were used like the rehabilitation centres for BJD leaders, he said. The senior Congress leader said elected bodies should be respected in a democracy. But the State Government threw all democratic norms to the wind in a bid to accommodate BJD activists, he said and added that even no criteria were set for such arbitrary selection. Describing the government step as highly illegal, BJP national executive member Bijay Mohapatra said the Naveen Government has a habit of making such blunders. The nominated councils of the Cuttack Central Cooperative Bank and Urban Cooperative Bank are among those which have been restrained by the HC. The State Government had nominated councils for nearly 100 cooperative bodies after the elected bodies were superseded after the Act was amended. But the intervention of the HC has come in the way of the State Government in showing favours to BJD workers, Mishra said. The controversy over the cooperative bodies has come even as the State Government is busy fending off the Opposition criticism on the mismanagement of last month’s flood. The Opposition has now trained its guns on the ruling party because of the fresh controversy.