Supreme Court upholds ouster of former Amul chairman Vipul Chaudhary

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the ouster of the former chairman of the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation, but laid down a series of guidelines to ensure democratic functioning of all such bodies in future. A bench comprising Justices Anil R Dave and Kurian Joseph dismissed Vipul Chaudhary appeal against the Gujarat High Court’s February 4 order, which endorsed his ouster from the cooperate body that sells the Amul brand of milk products.

Chaudhary was removed after the federation’s board passed a no-confidence motion against him. The top court stressed on the need to read democratic principles into all statutes and rules governing the functioning of cooperative societies. Among other things, it ruled that no chairman could be voted out before two years at the helm. The court barred boards from moving any fresh noconfidence motion within a year if they fail in the first attempt.

In addition, the court said a no-confidence motion must have the support of more than 50% of board members. Chaudhary had claimed in his written submissions to the court that he was voted out of office within days of attending a meeting of Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi.