MUMBAI: Leader of the opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Council, Pravin Darekar, has moved the Bombay high court against an order issued on January 3 by the Registrar of Cooperatives that he is not eligible to be a laborer, therefore not eligible for membership in Labourers’ Co-op Society. On Tuesday, the case was heard before a bench of judges RD Dhanuka and Madhav Jamdar.
Darekar’s claim in his petition, filed through ABG and Associates and supported by his lawyer Prashant Pandey, was that in 1997 he was admitted as a member of a company called Pratidnya Labor Co- operative Society in Fort Mumbai, and in 2021 he had received a show. Notice of Case from Jt Registrar Co-op Societies. He said that although his lawyer requested a week’s delay on December 29, the Divisional Common Clerk issued an order on January 3, 2022 against him. Pandey said his client was “harassed”. Another government litigant, Abhay Patki, said AG Ashutosh Kumbhakoni would appear in the case and asked for time. Pandey said the matter can be resolved if HC directs the Minister of State for Co-operative Societies before whom his appeal is pending to decide.
The HC ordered Derekar to serve a copy of her petition on the Pratidnya Society as she became a party but no lawyer came forward for this. Derekar was chairman of the Mumbai District Central Cooperative Bank and was arraigned as an accused of the Pratidnya Society, the allegation being that by showing himself as a member he became a director. —Swati Deshpande
Darekar’s claim in his petition, filed through ABG and Associates and supported by his lawyer Prashant Pandey, was that in 1997 he was admitted as a member of a company called Pratidnya Labor Co- operative Society in Fort Mumbai, and in 2021 he had received a show. Notice of Case from Jt Registrar Co-op Societies. He said that although his lawyer requested a week’s delay on December 29, the Divisional Common Clerk issued an order on January 3, 2022 against him. Pandey said his client was “harassed”. Another government litigant, Abhay Patki, said AG Ashutosh Kumbhakoni would appear in the case and asked for time. Pandey said the matter can be resolved if HC directs the Minister of State for Co-operative Societies before whom his appeal is pending to decide.
The HC ordered Derekar to serve a copy of her petition on the Pratidnya Society as she became a party but no lawyer came forward for this. Derekar was chairman of the Mumbai District Central Cooperative Bank and was arraigned as an accused of the Pratidnya Society, the allegation being that by showing himself as a member he became a director. —Swati Deshpande