Milk Vita MD removed

Munir Chowdhury

The Milk Vita management yesterday removed its Managing Director Mohammad Munir Chowdhury, who fought corruption and anomalies in the state-run cooperative dairy.
At a meeting in the evening, the management committee also promoted General Manager (planning) Sirajul Islam to replace Munir.
Talking to The Daily Star, Munir said he received a letter from the management committee around 8:30pm through a special messenger. The letter conveyed the committee's decision for his removal.
In February, the public administration ministry transferred Munir to the Rural Development and Cooperatives Division (RDCD) under the LGRD ministry on deputation. The RDCD appointed him as the MD of Milk Vita in the same month.
Mohibul Haque, joint secretary (appointment, posting and deputation) of the public administration ministry, said the management committee has no jurisdiction for removing the MD. Rather, only the ministry has jurisdiction for making such a decision.
Asked about the legality of the committee decision, he said it is solely illegal.
Roksana Quader, joint secretary of RDCD, echoed Mohibul's view on the latest developments in Milk Vita.
Contacted, Hasib Khan Tarun, chairman of the management committee, said they had removed Munir as he had “not been discharging his duties.”
Enquired whether the committee had the jurisdiction for making such a decision, Tarun said the government would consider whether the management had the jurisdiction or not.
Since joining the firm, Munir wanted to identify and punish corrupt employees, but has been implicated on a rather flimsy allegation of “being a Hefajat-e Islam supporter and misbehaving with a board member.”
Joint Secretary Mohibul said Munir is a very honest and efficient officer and he has turned Milk Vita into a profitable organisation.
The dairy has been plagued with corruption and anomalies for long. As Munir attempted to prevent such practices, corrupt syndicates were up in arms against him, mentioned Mohibul.