V KARUNAN MASTER Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Kerala State Cooperative Consumers' Federation, respondent No. 3, is an "apex society" as defined in S.2(a) of the Kerala Cooperative Societies Act, hereinafter referred to as "the Act". The managing committee of the apex society was in place as on 1.1.2000, the date of coming into force of the Kerala Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Act, Act 1 of 2000, which came into force with effect from 1.1.2000, S.28A of the Act was amended. Sub-s.(i) as amended provided that notwithstanding anything contained in the Act, the rules or the bye laws, there shall be reserved in the committee of every society, one seat for a woman member and one seat for a member belonging to the Scheduled Castes or the Scheduled Tribes. The amendment also took note of the existence of committees to which election was not due. It, therefore, provided in sub-s.(3) as follows:

(2.) Mr. M. K. Damodaran, on behalf of the appellants, submitted that learned Single Judge has not properly considered the question and on a proper interpretation of S.28A of the Act in the light of the other provisions in the Act and the Cooperative Societies Rules, it could be seen that the nomination under S.28A(3) of the Act has to be confined to a woman member or a member of the Scheduled Castes / Scheduled Tribes from among the members of the primary Cooperative Societies, who constituted at the body which formed the membership of the apex society. The learned Additional Advocate General, on the other hand, submitted that there was no reason for restricting the power available to the Government under S.28A(3) of the Act and the interpretation canvassed for by learned counsel for the appellants could not be accepted especially in the context of S.28A(4) of the Act and R.44 of the Cooperative Societies Rules. Counsel appearing for respondents 4 and 5 supported the arguments of Additional Advocate General and counsel for the apex society, referred to the relevant provisions and submitted that the view adopted by the learned Single Judge in the judgment under appeal was a possible view.

(3.) The intention behind S.28A of the Act is clear. It provides that every managing committee of a society, including an apex society, should have at least one woman member and one member belonging to the Scheduled Castes / Scheduled Tribes. Sub-s.(1) of S.28A has, therefore, provided that there shall be reserved in the committee of every society one seat for a woman member and one seat for a member belonging to the Scheduled Castes / Scheduled Tribes. It has to be noted that the reservation is for a woman member and a member belonging to the Scheduled Castes / Scheduled Tribes. The member normally in the circumstances would mean, a member of the Cooperative Society concerned. Normally it is only a member of the society who is entitled to be elected to the managing committee of that society. The rule of reservation enacted in S.28A(1) of the Act is to provide that there should be one seat reserved for a woman from among the members and one seat reserved for a person belonging to the Scheduled Castes / Scheduled Tribes from among the members of the society. It may be noted that the reservation by S.28A of the Act was introduced by the Cooperative Societies Amendment Ordinance 1985. Therefore, when that Section insisted that a seat for a woman member and a member belonging to the Scheduled Castes / Scheduled Tribes should be reserved while holding election to the managing committee, it is obvious that what the Section intended was that there should be woman members and Scheduled Castes / Scheduled Tribes members in every Cooperative Society and at least one each from among them should also be elected to the managing committee. Therefore, inherent in S.28A(1) of the Act is the recognition that every society has woman members and members belonging to the Scheduled Castes / Scheduled Tribes and they should not go unrepresented in the managing committee. S.28A(3) of the Act has, therefore, to be understood in the context of S 28A(1) of the Act. Sub-s.(3) of S.28A of the Act as it stood, enabled the nomination of a woman member or a member belonging to the Scheduled Castes / Scheduled Tribes to the committee of the Kerala State Cooperative Bank Ltd., the Kerala State Cooperative Agricultural and Rural Development Bank Ltd. and in the case of a primary credit society or a District Cooperative Bank. Sub-s.(3) of S.28A of the Act, as substituted by the Amendment Act, Act 1 of 2000, specifically referred to managing committees of any apex or central society at the commencement of the Amendment Act, 1999. It thus took note of managing committee, the term of which had not expired as on the date of that Act. The provision, therefore, conferred the power on the Government or the Registrar, depending on the circumstances, the power to nominate a woman member or a member belonging to the Scheduled Castes / Scheduled Tribes to the managing committee of the apex society or central society. This is really a power to supply a vacuum in the case of existing managing committees as on 1.1.2000 so as to give effect to the intention behind S.28A(1) of the Act. If that be so, the logical way of understanding the power to nominate conferred by S.28A(3) of the Act is to understand it as enabling the Government or the Registrar to nominate a woman member or a member belonging to the Scheduled Castes / Scheduled Tribes from among the members of the societies which constitute the membership of the apex society or the central society. In other words, the nomination contemplated by S.28A(3) of the Act should be understood as a nomination of a woman from among the members of the primary societies that are the members of the apex society or the central society and the nomination of a member from among the Scheduled Castes / Scheduled Tribes members of the primary societies which have membership in the apex society or the central society.