PRASHANT P D Vs. STATE OF KARNATAKA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) WRIT petitions either by private co-operative societies registered under the provisions of the Karnataka Co-operative societies Act, 1959 (for short 'the Act') or members of such societies.

(2.) WRIT petitioners are all aggrieved that election process for electing office bearers who constitute the committee of management in the societies while in progress and which was required to be completed in terms of the statutory provision fifteen days before the end of the co-operative years for each year which coincides with the financialyear and ending by the 31 st of March each year has been interfered by the State Government by issue of a Notification dated 4-3-2009, copy of which is produced as one of the annexures in all these writ petitions; that the interference is unnecessary, was not warranted; that though the notification recites that the Government has such power to postpone the election process which had already commenced and was in progress till the completion of elections to the parliament and tracing the power for issue of the notification to Section 39a (4) of the Act read with Section 121 of the Act and incidentally quotes the provisions of Sections 28a (4), 28a (5), 28b (2), 29f (4) and 39a (2) of the Act which are provisions quoted in the context of the references made in the earlier Government notification, particularly, for issue of two earlier notifications dated 17-1-2009 and 2-2-2009 and also to relieve the societies and their management from the rigour of operation of some of the penal or adverse provisions referred to above; that the power in fact has not been properly utilized; that the order has been issued mechanically without showing awareness to the actual situation prevailing, without even being satisfied as to whether such postponement was necessary or otherwise and the power having been exercised in a mechanical manner akin to exercise of power in an arbitrary manner and therefore the notification suffers from such legal defects and it has to be quashed.

(3.) THE members of the co-operative societies who are all very keen on contesting the elections, getting themselves elected to be in the management of the society and perhaps who had made considerable preparation for the same being quite naturally disappointed with the development have questioned the legality of the notification so that if the notification is held to be bad and quashed, the election process can be completed without any impediment and in this context had also sought for an interim order to stay the operation of the impugned notification.