No-confidence motion passed against Amul co-op chief

A day after a division Bench of the Gujarat High Court allowed Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) to hold a requisition meeting, members of GCMMF, owner of the Amul brand, have passed a no-confidence motion against the federation's chairman, Vipul Chaudhary, to safeguard the interests of the Rs 13,700-crore entity. The decision taken by the GCMMF board members is, however, subject to the high court's approval.

On Thursday, at a requisition meeting of GCMMF board members at the federation's headquarters in Anand, 13 of the 16 voting members supported the no-confidence motion, said sources close to the development. Chaudhary, also a representative of the Mehsana District Milk Producers' Union Ltd, and Ramsinh Parmar of the Kheda District Milk Producers' Union, walked out of the meeting while the motion was being passed; the Junagadh union representative was absent from the meeting, sources said.

Those supporting the no-confidence motion against Chaudhary included the member unions of Ahmedabad, Banaskantha, Valsad, Surat, Vadodara, Panchmahal, Sabarkantha, Amreli, Bhavnagar, Gandhinagar, Surendranagar, Rajkot and Kutch. According to these members, the no-confidence motion was passed because the board members felt Chaudhary's manner of administration was not in the federation's interests. They said the motion was needed to safeguard the interests of the state's three million milk producers.

Earlier, the federation's board of directors had secured the approval of a division Bench of the Gujarat High Court to discuss a no-confidence motion against Chaudhary. The court had said any decision on a no-confidence motion should not be implemented without its consent. The division Bench ruled the federation could convene a meeting to discuss a no-trust motion against Chaudhary, following an appeal by GCMMF and four other member unions. Now, the board members will place the resolution before the Gujarat High Court.

Boardroom drama
On Thursday, the GCMMF boardroom drama continued, with Chairman Vipul Chaudhary seeking postponement of the board's requisition meeting. In a letter to the commissioner (cooperatives), Chaudhary claimed the agenda of Thursday's meeting was not disseminated and, therefore, the meeting be postponed till the agenda was circulated in advance.