ADC Bank: SC refuses stay on HC ruling

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to grant stay on the Gujarat High Court ruling that had cancelled the election of Ahmedabad District Cooperative (ADC) Bank. The Supreme Court has given six weeks' time to both the parties for filing their replies.
Gujarat High Court had last week cancelled the election process of ADC Bank and asked the bank to complete the delimitation process and conduct the poll within next three months.

The Congress has welcomed the SC order by saying that the court has not allowed Amit Shah and Ajay Patel fraction to conduct the election in a hurry. Congress leader Narhari Amin said that the apex court action would cancel around 730 bogus voters included in the voters' list by Ajay Patel. Amin said that Ajay Patel had changed the by-laws of the bank and disqualified 95% voters to file nomination for post of director of the bank and as a result, of 22 seats,  15 seats were won uncontested with only one nomination filed .
The ADC Bank had challenged the Gujarat High Court's judgment in the Supreme Court and a decision will be taken thereafter, said Dushayant Raval, chief executive officer of ADC Bank.

Meanwhile, Ahmedabad City Congress demanded that the present board of directors of the bank be dismissed and a custodian be appointed so that the election could be carried out in a fair way. Ahmedabad City Congress president Pankaj Shah said in a statement that Dhushyant Raval had filed a wrong affidavit in Gujarat High Court, saying that all the members were aware of the amendments.