From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru

Bengaluru, Feb 5: The Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) chairman P Nagaraju has been unceremoniously sacked by the State Government over his alleged involvement in financial and administrative irregularities.

Nagaraju was unanimously elected as the KMF chairman on September 17 last year.

The Cooperation Department order issued on February 4, said that Nagaraju has been disqualified from the membership of the KMF Board for a period of two years under the Column 29 C of the Karnataka Cooperation Societies Act, 1959.

The disqualification means that he would lose both posts of the chairman and the director of the KMF.

It is learnat that Nagaraju had allegedly purchased a vehicle costing Rs 25 lac and toured north India twice without the Government’s permission.

In a compromise formula worked out by the Government in September last, it has been agreed upon that M PRavindra, Congress MLA, would succeed Nagaraju after two years for the remaining three-year period.

The Congress party had bagged the KMF’s top post after 15 years.

Nagaraju, a loyalist of Energy Minister D K Shivakumar, was elected director to KMF from the Bangalore-Ramanagaram Milk Union.

After the retirement A S Premanth as the managing director of the KMF, the Government has appointed IAS officer S N Jayaram as the new MD of KMF.

But the KMF Board appointed I R Ramalinge Gowda as the MD.

However, Gowda challenged the appointment of Jayaram in the High Court.

The High Court on Monday stayed the appointment of Jayaram.

The petitioner Gowda has questioned the government’s appointment when KMF’s Board of Directors had passed a resolution appointing him as the MD.

KMF is the largest cooperative dairy federation in South India, owned and managed by milk producers of the State.

It has over 20 lac million milk producers in 12,474 Dairy Cooperative Societies and 13 District Cooperative Milk Unions.