Supreme Court stays criminal proceedings against sacked Amul chief Vipulbhai M Chaudhary

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday stayed criminal proceedings initiated by the Gujarat government against ousted Amul chairman Vipulbhai M Chaudhary over alleged financial irregularities Chaudhary’s lawyer, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, sought a stay on the proceedings on the ground that this was intended to prevent him from contesting the elections again. Chaudhary had earlier been voted out as chairman of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd before his three-year tenure ended.
The top court stayed proceedings against Chaudhary that began after the state registrar of cooperatives issued show-cause notices against him. Chaudhary was expected to reply to the notice by February 3.

Any adverse findings against him by the registrar would have disqualified Chaudhary from holding the post again. Sibal claimed that any response from Chaudhary would be "otiose” or serve little purpose as the registrar had already made up his mind about the allegations against him.

Chaudhary, once a supporter of then state chief minister Narendra Modi, claims that a no-confidence motion was moved against him on December 5, 2013, shortly after he was seen with Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi.

The state government has denied this. Chaudhary has also challenged his removal as chairman in the Supreme Court. That petition is pending.

But since then the state has initiated criminal cases against the ousted Amul chairman on several counts of financial irregularities, Sibal said. The registrar’s show-cause action was at the instance of the "political establishment,” he said.

"If the registrar is going to listen to the political establishment, High Court must interfere,” he said. The High Court had on February 4 declined to intervene, rejecting a petition seeking a stay.

Chaudhary is facing charges under Sections 406, 420 (cheating), 120(B) (criminal conspiracy), 465, 468, 471, 114 of the IPC, and was granted anticipatory bail on April 3, 2014.