Kurien in another tangle at Irma

Director says key documents were removed from his office

Varghese Kurien, chairman Institute of Rural Management-Anand (Irma) and the chairman of Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd is caught in another controversy.

Fingers have been pointed at him for removing important documents related to an ongoing case from the office of Irma director, K Prathap Reddy, on Monday evening, when Reddy was attending the hearing of the case in Vadodara, around 50 km away from Anand.

Kurien has been the chairman of Irma for the last 17 years, the legality of which is subject to a case currently being heard by the Joint Charity Commissioner in Vadodara.

P A Joseph, executive assistant to Kurien, told Business Standard here on Tuesday evening, "The chairman has every right to send his men to pick up documents from the director's office and there is nothing wrong in it."

Reddy said that he has not yet filed a first information report (FIR) with the police over this.

Concurring, the superintendent of police (SP) of Anand district, B S Jebaliya, said cops are yet to receive a formal complaint from Reddy's office.

Some members of the board of governors of Irma that Business Standard talked to said "the removal of files was an attack on the sanctity of the director's office". They refused to be named.

The issue was also raised during the final hearing of the case before the joint charity commissioner B P Hadiya in Vadodara on Tuesday.

The joint charity commissioner's office, who is also the deputy administrator general (charity) is at present hearing a case over an order by the assistant charity commissioner Sama Anand raising the validity of Kurien's chairmanship of Irma for the last 17 years.

The hearing also looked into whether the minutes of a board meeting held on February 28 were implemented.

Reddy had convened board meeting of Irma on April 1. The commissioner's office is also looking into whether Reddy can convene such a meeting.

Kurien was represented by Joseph and counsellors, and Reddy was there himself with his lawyers.

Meanwhile, Kurien has slapped a notice on the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad director Bakul Dholakia, the chairman of National Institute of Design Hasmukh Shah, Vijay Mahajan, the managing director of Basyx, a Hyderabad-based microfinance organisation, V Ramachandran, who runs the Centre for Management Development, Trivandrum, and E Abraham, director of Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar.

In the notice, Kurien said "You people won't be allowed to attend the Irma board meeting of April 1 as you have ceased to be members of the board of governors from February 15, 2005".

Interestingly, the February 28 board meet resolved the extension of tenures of all the five board members for another two years.

After the hearing, Reddy said, "The matter is before the charity commissioner and it is not right time to comment further on the issue. But despite the being taken out of my office in my absence, I have preferred to stay away from filing a formal complaint with the police."

Reddy's term as director and member-secretary of Irma board would be over this August. But he has already expressed his intention to resign before completion of his tenure.