S. Balakrishnan, R. Shanmugam and M. Pandian vs The Deputy Registrar of Cooperative Societies and The Special Officer, Sivakasi Agriculture Producers Cooperative Marketing Society Ltd.

K. Chandru, J.—These writ petitions arise out of orders passed by the Special Officers of Cooperative Societies registered under the Tamil Nadu Cooperative Societies Act, 1983 or actions initiated by other societies. The nature of relief claimed in each of the writ petition is briefly set out below:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sl. No. W.P. No. Relief claimed -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 W.P.(MD) No. 4337 of Withholding Section 12(3) settlement 2007 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2 W.P.(MD) Nos. 4340 to To pay minimum salary 4343 of 2007 G.O.Ms. No. 145, dt.1.8.2005 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 W.P.(MD) No. 4988 of To quash Suspension order 2007 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4 W.P.(MD) No. 5124 of Claiming wages and regularise 2007 the period of suspension -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5 W.P.(MD) No. 8785 of Challenging the order of 2007 Redeployment -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6 W.P.(MD) No. 10115 of Permit to joint duty 2007 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7 W.P.(MD) No. 10584 of To quash suspension order 2007 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8 W.P.(MD) No. 10710 of To quash suspension order 2007 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9 W.P.(MD) No. 3177 of Transfer order 2008 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10 W.P.(MD) No. 3357 of To quash termination order and 2008 to reinstate in service -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11 W.P.(MD) No. 3932 of To quash suspension order 2008 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12 W.P.(MD) No. 3950 of To quash the order of 2008 termination and relinquishment and seeks to reinstate in service -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13 W.P.(MD) No. 4086 of Retirement and seeks to pay the 2008 gratuity amount and pension benefits -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14 W.P.(MD) Nos. 4533 To quash the order of suspension and 4543 of 2008 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15 W.P.(MD) Nos. 5058 of Order of recovery 2008 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 16 W.P.(MD) No. 5358 of Denial of promotion 2008 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 17 W.P.(MD) No. 5389 of To disburse the arrears of 2008 salary and retirement benefits -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18 W.P.(MD) No. 5405 of To declare the suspension as 2008 illegal -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 19 W.P.(MD) No. 5780 of Seniority 2008 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 20 W.P.(MD) No. 6269 of To quash the order of dismissal 2008 and to reinstate in service -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 21 W.P.(MD) No. 6377 of Quash charge memo, enquiry 2008 report and dismissal order and to reinstate in service -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 22 W.P.(MD) No. 6806 of To quash the suspension order 2008 and to reinstate in service -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 23 W.P.(MD) No. 6906 of To quash suspension order and to 2008 reinstate in service -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 24 W.P.(MD) No. 7285 of To disburse DA arrears 2008 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 25 W.P.(MD) No. 7296 of To quash suspension order and to 2008 reinstate in service -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 26 W.P.(MD) No. 7482 of Coverage under the insurance 2008 scheme -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 27 W.P.(MD) Nos. 7486 to To quash the suspension order 7488 of 2008 and to reinstate in service -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 28 W.P.(MD) No. 7490 of To prepare seniority list 2008 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 29 W.P.(MD) No. 7496 of To quash the order of suspension 2008 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 30 w.P.(MD) No. 7497 of Not to interfere in the 2008 discharge of Petitioner''s duty -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 31 W.P.(MD) No. 8251 of Not to interfere in the 2008 discharge of Petitioner''s duty -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 32 W.P.(MD) No. 8259 of To quash the enquiry report 2008 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 33 W.P.(MD) No. 8304 of To consider for the post of 2008 Assistant without age bar -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 34 W.P.(MD) No. 8324 of To quash the resolution 2008 (dismissal) and to reinstate in service -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 35 W.P.(MD) No. 8867 of To quash the suspension order 2008 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 36 W.P.(MD) No. 8996 of To release the balance PF 2008 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 37 W.P.(MD) No. 9022 of For promotion 2008 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 38 W.P.(MD) No. 9141 of To quash the order of suspension 2008 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 39 W.P.(MD) No. 9176 of To call for interview 2008 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 40 W.P.(MD) No. 9313 of To quash the dismissal order and 2008 to pay past months'' salary -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 41 W.P.(MD) No. 9337 of To settle the retirement 2008 benefits -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 42 W.P.(MD) No. 9508 of To regularise the service of 2008 Petitioner -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 43 W.P.(MD) No. 9751 of To quash the suspension order 2008 and to reinstate in service -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 44 W.P.(MD) No. 10217 of To quash the suspension order 2008 and to reinstate in service -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 45 W.P.(MD) No. 9925 and To appoint as Assistants 10886 of 2008 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 46 W.P.(MD) No. 11479 of To settle the terminal benefits 2008 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 47 W.P.(MD) No. 3789 of Show cause notice for recovery 2009 and for a direction to disburse gratuity and terminal benefits 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It must be noted that a Larger Bench of this Court in K. Marappan Vs. The Deputy Registrar of Co-operative Societies and The Special Officer, Vattur Co-operative Agricultural Bank, had held that a writ petition will not lie against a Cooperative Society even if they are headed by a Special Officer appointed by the Act of State Legislature.

In cases where suspensions are attacked on the ground that orders of suspension do not specify the period of suspension in terms of Section 76(1) of the Act, a Full Bench of this Court in A.S. Subramani Vs. The Deputy Registrar of Cooperative Societies and The Special Officer, , negatived such a claim and rejected the contentions made in this regard.

In cases if there were denial of subsistence allowance or termination, arguments were made on the ground that it would amount to deprivation of livelihood which is akin to deprivation of liberty and thus such deprivations are protected under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. Therefore, in such cases, maintainability of writ petitions is not in doubt. Even that issue came to be considered by a subsequent Full Bench in T.K. Ananda Sayanan Vs. The Joint Registrar co-operative Societies, Vellore Region and The Special Officer, Sinampattadai Primary Agricultural Co-operative Bank, . In that case, rejecting the contentions based on Article 21, the Full Bench held that Marappan''s case (cited supra) squarely covers even those cases and aggrieved persons will have to find their remedies either under the provisions of the Act or under any other enactments applicable to such employees.

Thereafter, in cases where terminations were sought to be made on grounds that appointments were either irregular or due to lack of qualifications, certain groups of writ petitions came to be filed stating that the Government had taken a policy decision to absorb such employees and till such time, the court must give protective orders. Even those cases came to be rejected by a Full Bench of this Court in R. Radhakrishnan v. Deputy Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Dindigul reported in 2007 (4) LLN 868.

In the light of the above binding precedents, this Court is unable to countenance any of the prayer made in these writ petitions. Hence all writ petitions will stand dismissed. However, there will be no order as to costs. Consequently, connected miscellaneous petitions stand closed.

The dismissal of these writ petitions will not disentitle the Petitioners from approaching appropriate forums for getting their grievances settled.