Madan Singh Jeena vs State Of Uttarakhand & Others

Sudhanshu Dhulia, J

Miscellaneous application (IA No.9003 of 2019) is allowed. Counter affidavit filed on behalf of respondent no.4 is taken on record.

The question before this Court is regarding the disqualification of a member of a Cooperative Society. The petitioner who is a member of Primary Milk Cooperative Society known as "Dugdh Utpadak Sahkari Samiti Limited, Suyalbadi, District Nainital", was also elected as a delegate to the higher body i.e. Dugdh Utpadak Sahkari Sangh Limited, Lalkuan, Nainital. The petitioner is aggrieved by the resolution no. 5 passed in the meeting dated 11.06.2019 as well as the order dated 19.06.2019 by which the Registrar has approved the said resolution, whereby the petitioner has been disqualified as a member and therefore effectively removed from the "Sangh". Aggrieved, the petitioner has approached this Court.

The primary contention of the petitioner is that the only reason assigned for making him disqualified is that he had supplied milk less than the minimum quantity.

Under powers vested with it under Rule 37(1)(p) of bye-laws of Dugdh Utpadak Sahkari Samiti Limited, the Management Committee of a Primary Society, can hold a member disqualified if in the last cooperative year he has supplied milk for less than 180 days and also less than 300 liters.

The petitioner would argue that in his case he has not been held disqualified by the Committee under the said provision but by the resolution of the District Level Cooperative Society i.e. the "Sangh", which was approved by the Registrar, Cooperative Societies.

The District Level Cooperative Society has got powers to disqualify a Primary Cooperative Society which is its members, inter alia, for reasons that it has supplied milk less than the minimum quantity. This provision is given in Rule 36(s) of the bye-laws of the society if such a "samiti" holds such a member disqualified which has supplied less than minimum i.e. 270 days and 5000 litres of milk in the last cooperative year.

The pointed case of the learned counsel for the petitioner is that in case the petitioner is liable in his personal capacity as a member of a Primary Cooperative Society for supplying less quantity of milk to his primary society then in that case only the Management Committee of his Primary Cooperative Society can hold him disqualified, but if the society which he represents i.e. the "Sangh" or the District Level Body, holds him disqualify it can only do so if the society which he represents has supplied lesser quantity of milk as already stated above.

The case of the petitioner is that the society which he represents has supplied the required quantity of milk for which the petitioner has placed a document before this Court stating that the Samiti had supplied 67636.42 liters of milk to the District Level Society in the last cooperative year. However, this is not the part of the record.

Meanwhile, considering that after holding the petitioner disqualified as a member, fresh elections have been initiated and this Court has been informed that another member has been elected in place of the petitioner.

This Court has also been informed that under Section 98 of the Uttaranchal Co-Operative Societies Act, 2003, an appeal would lie before the Cooperative Tribunal. The provision for appeal is given under Chapter XIII of aforesaid Act. For our purposes, Section 97 would be relevant which reads as under:-

"Section 97. (1) Any person aggrieved by any award of the Registrar made under clause (a) of sub-section (1), or sub-section (2) of Section 71 may within forty five days after the date on which the award is communicated to such person, appeal to the Tribunal.

(2) The Tribunal after hearing an appeal under this section may pass such order as it may seem just."

Section 98 is also relevant for our purposes, which reads as follows:-

"Section 98. (1) An appeal against-

(a) an order of the Registrar made under sub-section (2) of Section 7 refusing to register a co-operative society;

(b) an order of the Registrar under sub-section (3) of Section 12 refusing to register, or under sub-section (2) of Section 14 registering an amendment in the bye-laws of a co-operative society;

(c) a decision of co-operative society refusing to admit any person as a member of the society under sub-section (2) of Section 26 or expelling any member of the society under sub-section (1) of Section 27 or an order passed under sub-section (1) of Section 38 for removal of an officer from the office held by him or to disqualify him from holding any office;

(d)...

(e) ...

(f) ...

(g) ...

(h) ...

(i) ...

(j) ...

(k)...

(l) ...

(m) ...

(n) ...

(2) An appeal under clauses (c), (d), (e), (f), (g), (k), and (l) of sub-section (1) shall be preferred to the Tribunal, and an appeal under clauses (a), (b), (h), (i), (j), (m), and (n) of the said sub-section shall be preferred-

(a) if the decision or the order was made by the Registrar, to the State Government;

(b) if the decision or order or award was made by any other person or authority, to the Registrar;

(c) if the order or award was made on a dispute relating to an election, to the Tribunal.

(3) Notwithstanding any thing contained in clause (b) of sub-section (2) the State Government may by notification in the Gazette, direct that appeals against awards mentioned in clause (h) of sub-section (1) shall, in respect of such cases or class of cases, as may be specified in the said notification lie to the Tribunal, and thereupon any person aggrieved by such award, may appeal to the Tribunal.

(4) Te appellate authority after hearing an appeal under this section may pass such orders as it may deem fit."

(emphasis provided)

The matter relates to sub-section (1) (c) of Section 98 of the Uttaranchal Co-Operative Societies Act, 2003, which is appealable under sub-section (2) of Section 98 before the Tribunal.

Therefore, the writ petition is disposed with a direction to the petitioner to file an appeal before the Tribunal. Interim order dated 04.07.2019 is hereby vacated.

This Court has not been apprised as to the limitation in filing of the appeal, but in case the appeal is filed by the petitioner, the Tribunal shall take into consideration the pendency of this writ petition before this Court and consider the matter particularly under Section 14 of the Limitation Act.

Considering the urgency in the matter, the Tribunal shall make every possible effort to dispose of the matter as early as possible, but definitely within a period of six weeks from the date of production of a certified copy of this order.

The election of the new member shall be subject to the outcome of the decision of the Tribunal.