HC Kolhapur bench
Kolhapur: Bombay high court’s Kolhapur bench has ruled that returning officers of cooperative bank elections can declare candidates ineligible if they have already completed 10 years as directors, a decision that could significantly impact ongoing cooperative bank elections across Maharashtra . The petitioners argued that the two candidates had already completed the maximum tenure permitted under section 10A(2A) of the Banking Regulation Act, and were, therefore, barred from contesting again. The ruling came on a petition filed by Sanjay More and Chandrakant Kokate, who challenged the validity of nominations filed by Anil Desai and Rajendra Rajpure for the Satara District Cooperative Bank election.
The nominations had earlier been upheld on the basis of a state govt letter dated Aug 21, 2026, which stated that a returning officer had no jurisdiction to decide disqualification under the Banking Regulation Act. However, Justice Shailesh Brahme, in his Oct 14 judgment, rejected that interpretation. “It is trite law that executive instructions, which are in the form of letter dated 21.08.2026, cannot override the statutory provisions or interpretations of law. The sole authority to remove candidates, if they had completed a 10-year tenure as director, is with RBI.
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This larger public interest cannot be overlooked, be it interim stage of election process or substantive post-election proceedings,” the judgment said. Senior advocate Louis Shah, who represented Desai and Rajpure, said the high court order has been challenged before Supreme Court. The law is not clear on this as well,” Shah said.
Those are the perceptions of individual executive, which cannot bind this court,” the court observed. The bench noted that the disqualification provision was intended to prevent concentration of power in cooperative banks and ensure wider participation. “The disqualification provided by sub-section (2A) of Section 10A of the Banking Regulation Act is with the object to avoid concentration of power and monopoly. It is aimed at providing equal opportunity to other eligible. The ruling is expected to have wider implications as elections are underway in several cooperative banks, including those in Sangli and Satara, while elections in Kolhapur and other districts are due soon. “There were two judgements before by other HCs that categorically stated that the election returning officer for cooperative banks cannot function as the agent of RBI. Download the TOI App.
The matter is scheduled to come up before Supreme Court on Friday.