The twist: Governor TV Rajeshwar has not yet given the assent to the Bill passed by the Assembly in the budget session, seeking the extension of the appointees and the implementation of SC, ST and OBC reservation in the cooperative societies.  

On a day the tenure of the administrators was to end, the Cabinet approved a proposal to extend the term of the administrators until the completion of the cooperative elections on September 24, which begins on April 2.

The government action comes at a time when the model code of conduct is in force and according to official sources the approval of the Election Commission was not obtained before making the announcement.

The Opposition camp is already reverberating with criticism on the government’s move. Samajwadi Party spokesman Rajendra Chowdhary said the government’s action is a pure violation of the model code of conduct. “We had already notified the Election Commission that the BSP government will misuse the official machinery,” he said.

State Congress spokesman Akhilesh Singh said the party would take up the matter with the Election Commission.

The government had taken this decision in haste as it was not in a position to seek the approval of the Election Commission. 

According to vice-president of state BJP HN Dikshit, the BSP leaders appointed as administrators were occupying their position in flagrant violation of the law. Until the Governor gives his assent to the UP Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Act 2009, the government has no authority to extend the term of the political appointees.

The initial appointment of the administrators was made after amending the law which paved way for the removal of elected chairmen by reducing their term by two years. 

The appointments were made in September 2007 for a period of one year. Later, by an ordinance, the government extended their term by six months which was to end on March 5. 

The government brought another Ordinance to extend their term for another six months, but the Governor refused to accept the government’s terms.

Later, the government introduced a Bill in the Assembly, which was passed in the budget session and the Governor is yet to give his assent to the Bill.

According to sources, two reasons have been cited by the government for its action. First, the Governor returned the Ordinance for amending the UP Cooperative Societies Act in January last year.

Second, the UP Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Bill 2009, providing for extending the term by another six months and enforcing reservation for SC, ST, OBCs was passed by both the Houses of the state Legislature during the budget session of the Assembly in February, but the Governor was yet to give his assent.

Defending the government action, an official of the cooperative department said: “No cooperative body can function without a management committee, headed either by an elected chairman or administrator appointed by the state government.”

“The operations of the cooperative bodies like district cooperative banks and the apex cooperative bodies like the UP Cooperative Bank would have come to a grinding halt without this decision,” the official added.