PONDA: Shivanand Pednekar, a farmer has filed a petition in the High Court of Bombay at Goa challenging the appointment of MD by the state government in the Goa Dairy.
The court accepted his petition and on September 13, directed the government to stay the order of appointment if the government had implemented it and if not then not to implement it till the next date.
According to this petition, the state government has given additional charge of the post of MD of Goa Dairy to an officer who is a Special Land Acquisition Officer in Goa State Industrial Development Corporation to which the petitioner has objected.
Further, the Board of Directors on Goa Dairy was elected and the chairman was also elected on July 18, 2022, but the government did not give the opportunity to the Board of Directors to appoint the post of MD and a government official was appointed to this post on July 14, 2022.
The petitioner stated that the government has directly interfered with the authority of the board of directors and said that the government should explain the appointment.
A perusal of the document shows that elections for the Goa Dairy Board were conducted and post elections on July 18, the elected Chairman of the said Dairy was to hold the charge.
Now before this handover and taking over the charge, the State Government passed the order dated July 14 whereby one officer holding the position of SLAO attached to Goa Industrial Development Corporation was directed to hold the post of Managing Director of the said Society. The act of the State, for the reasons best known to the State, clearly frustrates the object of the act when an elected body was to take over the charge, the State Government, without giving any opportunity to a such elected body, appointed one officer to manage the affairs of the Goa Dairy. There is nothing in the order to state that there was any special reason for the Government to overlook the elected body and trust a Government official to manage the affairs of the Goa Dairy.
