Ketan Patel is SITA President

SNIGDHA KARJATKAR, Mumbai, July 19

South Gujarat IT Association (SITA) has finally declared Ketan
Patel as its newly elected president. The annual general meeting of the
association took place during the second week of July. Chetan Desai has been
voted as the new VP of SITA.

In the past few weeks, SITA had been shrouded by controversies
regarding selection of its next President. Members were divided over who should
be the next President. While some members wanted to follow the traditional route
of electing the President, others felt the need to departure from the
traditional style of election to make the process more democratic. Members had
also put a question mark on the eligibility of the membership of Bharat Randheri,
the outgoing President of the association. But a month later, members have
finally agreed on the appoitment of the new President.

"Every association has its own set of differences. We too
had our share of differences but the issues have been sorted out and resolved.
We are now

focusing on the welfare of the members and making SITA a more successful
organization," said Kamal Aggarwal, spokesperson, SITA.

There are six members in the new committee while three members
have been freshly inducted in the forum. Clearing the confusion Agarwal said,
"There is no more confusion. Ketan Patel has been selected as the new
President and he has been voted unanimously. Even the past presidents have voted
for him, so this clearly indicates that there is no unrest in the association,
about his selection, among members."

Regarding the serious allegation on Randheri, Agarwal plainly
said, "The rules of the constitution still stand true. There was some 'confusion'
about validity of his membership in the organization. But those confusions and
issues related to Randheri's membership have been amicably resolved and he
will continue be a member of SITA."

Speaking about the plans for the association, Patel said,
"We would like to focus more on member's welfare and provide a platform
for members where they can share their grievances related to services. Also we
wish to strengthen the communication between partners regarding issues like
fraud parties. With someone raising the alarm bell regarding a fraud case and
passing the word, it will be much easier to trace culprits."

Also talking about plans for this year, Patel said, "We
plan to have SOFT EXPO sometime soon. The expo will give resellers who deal in
software and educational domain an exclusive crowd and space to market their
products.