Rajesh Patil of the ruling Mahayuti was elected chairman of Gokul Dairy, securing 16 out of 25 votes, MP Dhananjay Mahadik said on Tuesday, November 10. The result marks the latest turn in a contest that has drawn in Maharashtra's government, opposition parties, dairy farmers and the Bombay High Court.
The chairmanship election followed a narrow victory by Congress MLC Satej Patil's panel in last month's board elections. A subsequent government ordinance granting voting rights to nominated directors triggered accusations that the ruling alliance was changing the rules to secure control of the cooperative.
At stake is an institution with an annual turnover of around Rs 4,000 crore and links to about 4.41 lakh milk producers. The dispute centres on who controls its management and how much influence the government should exercise over an elected cooperative board.
What Happened In The October 19 Results?
The Rajarshi Shahu Shetkari Samavichari Aghadi, backed by Satej Patil, won 13 of the 25 elected seats on the board of the Kolhapur District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union, better known as Gokul Dairy.
The Mahayuti-backed Chhatrapati Shahu Shetkari Vikas Aghadi, led by senior NCP minister Hasan Mushrif, secured the remaining 12 seats, according to the results reported on October 19.
The outcome was a setback for the ruling alliance, whose leaders had campaigned together to secure control of the cooperative. Satej Patil's panel emerged with a one-seat majority among the elected directors.
However, winning the board election did not immediately settle the chairmanship. The post remained vacant because meetings to elect the chairman lacked the required quorum of 14 directors.
This left a gap between the declaration of the board results and the selection of its leader. During that period, the state government moved to change the provisions governing nominations and voting rights in large cooperative institutions.
What Did The Maharashtra Government Change?
The Maharashtra cabinet approved a proposal allowing the government to nominate five members to the managing committees of qualifying cooperative institutions. Four would have voting rights.
Governor Jishnu Dev Varma subsequently promulgated the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies (Amendment) Ordinance, 2026, on November 6. It amended Section 73AAA of the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960, with immediate effect.
The provision covers federal cooperative societies with annual turnover exceeding Rs 500 crore that receive government assistance, including share capital, loans, guarantees, grants, land or other support. District central cooperative banks are excluded.
The five nominees comprise a government officer of at least assistant registrar rank and four experts with relevant qualifications and experience. The officer cannot vote, while the four experts can vote at committee meetings. None of the nominees can become chairman or vice-chairman.
The government's stated justification was that nominated experts previously lacked voting rights, limiting their participation in management decisions. Giving them a vote, it said, would help ensure transparent and effective management of institutions handling substantial public funds.
For Gokul, the controversy concerned the timing and effect of the change: four voting nominees could alter the balance established by the elected directors' 13–12 split.
Why Did Opposition Leaders And Farmers Protest?
Opposition parties alleged that the government introduced the provision to overcome the majority secured by Satej Patil's panel. On November 9, opposition leaders and dairy farmers marched to the Kolhapur district collectorate with their cattle. NCP (SP) state president Jayant Patil and Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana chief Raju Shetti jointly led the agitation.
Satej Patil accused ministers Hasan Mushrif and Chandrakant Patil of engineering the nominations to weaken democratic institutions and the cooperative sector.
Jayant Patil argued that allowing government-appointed experts to change the balance of an elected board would set a precedent for intervention whenever the ruling side lacked a majority.
Shetti said Gokul belonged to its milk-producing farmers. He also questioned applying the ordinance to a chairmanship election whose notification, he argued, had specified that existing laws would govern the process.
These remain the opposition's allegations. The government's explanation centres on improving management through the participation of qualified experts.
What Has The Court Said, And Why Does Gokul Matter?
On November 9, the Bombay High Court's Aurangabad bench declined to stay the ordinance while hearing a petition challenging its constitutional validity. Justice Neeraj Dhote allowed the four nominated directors to participate and vote in the November 10 chairmanship election, but directed that their votes be kept in a separate ballot box. The court also ordered videography and photography of the process and listed the next hearing for November 25.
The interim order allowed voting to proceed; it did not finally settle the ordinance's validity.
Established in 1963, Gokul recorded turnover of Rs 3,966.28 crore in 2024-25. It collects milk through 8,009 village-level societies across about 1,810 villages in and around Kolhapur.
That reach explains the political stakes. Its management connects a large dairy business with lakhs of producers across rural Maharashtra. Tuesday's chairmanship result settles the immediate leadership contest, while the legal challenge over nominated directors' voting rights remains pending.
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