Maharashtra: RBI directs removal of co-operation minister, others from Latur bank board

• The RBI has directed the Latur District Central Cooperative Bank to remove Maharashtra Cooperation Minister Babasaheb Patil and seven other directors over the 10-year tenure limit.

• The order follows a complaint by bank member Satish Sheshrao Jadhav and a Bombay High Court direction to the RBI to decide it.

• Seven directors had submitted their resignations before the RBI issued its direction on 18 September.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has directed the Latur District Central Cooperative Bank to remove Maharashtra Cooperation Minister Babasaheb Patil, and seven other directors found ineligible to continue under the 10-year tenure limit for cooperative bank directors.

Patil is a member of the Nationalist Congress Party led by Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar. The RBI direction, issued on Friday, followed a complaint by bank member Satish Sheshrao Jadhav and an order from the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court requiring the central bank to decide the matter. The court had given the RBI six weeks to consider Jadhav’s representation.

In its 18 September direction, issued by Assistant General Manager Kapil Goswami, the RBI instructed the bank to remove any director ineligible to hold office under Section 10A(2A)(i), read with Section 56, of the Banking Regulation Act.

The direction came after the seven resignations had been submitted; the information provided does not establish whether they had taken effect before the RBI issued its order.

Jadhav had complained to the RBI on 25 May that eight directors had served beyond the permitted period. After approaching the High Court, he obtained a direction on 3 August for the RBI to act on his complaint. The central bank subsequently sought responses from the directors by 10 September.

Seven of them submitted their resignations to the bank’s chairman and managing director that day. They were Ashok Shivajirao Patil Nilangekar, Shripatrao Nivruttirao Kakade, Swayamprabha Dhananjay Patil, Vyankatrao Dhondiram Birajdar, Prithviraj Harishchandra Shirsat, Pramod Jadhav and Nagorao Patil. The bank forwarded the resignations to the RBI.

With PTI inputs