The dispute over ownership of the All Kerala Chemists and Druggists Association (AKCDA) was solved with no space for dilemma with the merger of the two factions led by Antony Tharian and former AIOCD president A N Mohan.

The end of the long standing rivalry came in the wake of the organisatonal election for which the processes are progressing under the supervision of a court appointed Commissioner. The election is likely to be held before April 30, it is learnt.

According to senior leaders of the organisation, the captains of the two groups, after prolonged discussions, assembled at the Thrissur AKCDA office on March 1 and signed an agreement with regard to the reunification and future course of action. The first joint meeting of the leaders will be held in Ernakulam on March 23.

As per the agreement, all the criminal and the civil litigations filed by each group against the other will be withdrawn from the courts. Besides, the cases of embezzlement of funds filed against A N Mohan will also be withdrawn. The office buildings in each district head quarter and the state office at Ernakulam will be jointly shared by both the groups as members of same organisation.

The rivalry started in the organisation before ten years alleging embezzlement by a section of the leaders.

According to senior leader M Shivasankaran of Thrissur district, a joint working group has been formed by selecting nine members each from both the factions who will assist the Commission to conduct the election. The voters list was completely sorted out and handed over to the Commission. He said the 18 member working group includes the former office-bearers of the two factions.

The traders said the disunity among them and the faction feud followed it helped many pharma companies to enter into the state for doing unethical business. Taking advantage of the disunity, the state medical services corporation has engaged into direct business with the manufacturing companies. This has led the traders into a quandary and many occasions the business found no prospects. Shivasankaran pointed out that AKCDA comprises more than 11,000 traders who give employment to nearly one lakh people.

In January this year, the district registrar at Ernakulam removed the organisation from the registry of the office due to failure of filing yearly returns and replies to the notices issued to it. It happened because the office was non functional for years owing to the factional feud. Later the high court stayed the proceedings of the registrar with the involvement of  a section of  leaders under Antony Tharian.

In September last year, on a petition filed by Antony Tharian seeking permission to conduct election for new office-bearers, the Sub-Court of Ernakulam appointed the Commission to conduct free and fair election from the unit level to the state level as early as possible. As per the court directive, the Commission led by Advocate A Balagopal of Ernakulam, filed the election schedule to the court with renewed voters list.

According to sources, the secret understanding reached among the leaders is that AN Mohan will be elected as the state president and Antony Tharian as the general secretary. Including Shivasankaran, the organisation will have two vice presidents. This decision will be openly discussed in the meeting of March 23.

There are more than 500 units of AKCDA working in the state under each district committee. Unit election will be held first, followed by election to district committees and finally for state office-bearers.

Even after the split in the AIOCD at the national level resulting the formation of AICDF, both the organizations’ branches in Kerala were retaining the name AKCDA. Now with the merger of the two factions, especially with the defection of Mohan, the units of AICDF in other states will be in a dilemma.