In Brief
The Supreme Court upheld the removal of Vipulbhai Chaudhary, Chairman of a milk producers' union, but reduced his disqualification period from six years to four years. The Court held that separate orders for removal and disqualification under the Gujarat Co-operative Societies Act are lawful, and that fresh proceedings under the disqualification provisions could be initiated after earlier proceedings were quashed for procedural defects. However, the six-year disqualification period imposed after an amendment to the statute was not retrospectively applicable to conduct predating the amendment; the maximum permissible period for Chaudhary's case was four years. The appeals of Chaudhary were dismissed, and the State's appeal was disposed of accordingly, with disqualification capped at four years.",
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