CINTAA row: Counsel for Dhillon and Kolhapure questions FWICE intervention
Advocate AS Peerzada, representing CINTAA president Poonam Dhillon and general secretary Padmini Kolhapure, has criticised FWICE's handling of the association's internal dispute.
The dispute within the Cine & TV Artistes' Association (CINTAA) has drawn fresh scrutiny over the role of the Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE), with advocate AS Peerzada, appearing for CINTAA president Poonam Dhillon and general secretary Padmini Kolhapure, questioning how the federation stepped into the association's internal affairs.
Peerzada said the matter ought to have been handled more effectively and with neutrality. Noting that CINTAA is a long-standing body with many senior film and television artistes engaged in welfare work for members over the years, he said Dhillon and Kolhapure were brought onto its board to strengthen its functioning and welfare activities.
He described the federation's move to supersede CINTAA's committee as a wrong approach carried out at considerable speed. In his view, internal disagreements among members should not automatically become grounds for intervention by the federation, especially when the association's own constitution provides ways to resolve such disputes. He added that affiliates are autonomous bodies whose internal matters the federation cannot interfere in, and that it should instead have offered guidance to those opposed to the leadership.
On the resignations by office bearers, Peerzada pointed to a constitutional provision under which a committee stands dissolved if more than 50 per cent of members resign. CINTAA has maintained that half its members did not give consent, so the question of dissolution does not arise. Even in the event of dissolution, he said, elections would be conducted by CINTAA and not by the federation.
The remarks follow the resignation of at least eleven Executive Committee members in August, including eight elected members, who cited concerns over the association's functioning and alleged unilateral decision-making by its leadership. Upasana Singh and other dissenting members have accused Dhillon and Kolhapure of undemocratic functioning. Both office-bearers have denied the allegations.