SINTA Dispute Deepens as Court Issues Contempt Notice
Mumbai, October 29: The SINTA dispute has intensified after actress Varsha Usgaonkar alleged that the association's employees are colluding with Poonam Dhillon and Padmini Kolhapure. Her remarks come as a court has taken cognisance of the election-related controversy and issued a fresh order to the association.
Usgaonkar said that staff members of the Cine and TV Artistes Association refuse to give straight answers when questioned about the organisation's funds. She insisted that employees must remain loyal to the body they serve and not to individual committee members.
"The employees of any organisation owe their loyalty to the organisation. They are not the private staff of any executive committee member. We found that the loyalty of the employees, especially the accountant, towards the organisation was very low," she said.
She further alleged that when asked about fixed deposits and reserves, the accountant gave evasive replies, saying either that he did not know or that he had been on leave that day.
Usgaonkar described the fixed deposit issue as a looting-like situation. "This is a trust, and it is the money of members. How can anyone touch it without their permission?" she said.
The SINTA crisis began a few months ago when 11 of the 21 members of the executive committee resigned, accusing the leadership of running the association in a dictatorial manner. Since then, two groups have been locked in a war of words. Padmini Kolhapure and Poonam Dhillon lead one faction, while Upasana Singh and Sahila Chadha lead the other.
Upasana Singh has accused Dhillon and Kolhapure of breaking fixed deposits and withdrawing funds from a bank account that was supposed to be frozen during the management dispute. Dhillon has responded by saying that the association's financial records are available to executive committee members.
In a new development, a court order has been received indicating that the court has issued a show-cause notice to SINTA for contempt of court. The association has been directed not to act upon or implement the October 20 election results, in which Kolhapure and Dhillon won by securing the maximum votes.