RAJAGOPALAN Vs. DY. REGISTRAR OF COOPERATIVE SOCIETIES

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These four writ petitions concern the affairs of the Pattiyam Service Cooperative Bank Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as 'the society') after 28th January 1980, the date on which elections to the Board of Directors had been scheduled, but could not be held due to extraordinary and lamentable reasons. The writ petitions, O.P. Nos. 411 and 2138 of 1980, are by the person who was the President of the Society until 31st January 1980, O.P. No. 2827 of 1980 is by a member, and O.P. No. 3910 of 1980 is by a member whose nomination for election scheduled on 28th January 1980 had been accepted.

(2.) The basic and substantial grievance in those petitions relates to the appointment of an Administrator under an order dated 30th January 1980 of the Deputy Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Cannanore. Copy of the order is produced as Ext. P-2 in O.P. 411 and Ext. P-3 in O.P. 3910 of 1980. The main arguments were addressed in O.P. No. 3910 of 1980. The Advocate General appeared on behalf of the State and addressed arguments on the question relating to the constitutional validity of S.33 of the Kerala Cooperative Societies Act, 1969 (for short 'the Act').

(3.) The society had had its last election in the year 1976. The term of the office bearers was to expire on 30th September 1979. One would have wished that elections to the Cooperative Societies are held in time and that the elected committees do not overstay in their office, regard being had to the fact that Cooperative Societies are democratic institutions at the grass-root level and constitute a movement of great importance, given its due pride of place in our constitution. However, for a variety of reasons, which it is not necessary to detail here but the unfortunate existence of which cannot be wished away, elections do not take place on the due date. In this society too, elections were not held before the expiry of the term of the then Board. The term was extended upto 31st December 1979. Even within the extended period the elections could not be conducted. This necessitated a further extension of the term of the Board to 31st January 1980. The Deputy Registrar passed orders on 17th December 1979 relating to the conduct of the elections, and arrangements were made to conduct the elections on 28th January 1980. In accordance with the provisions contained in R.35 of the Kerala Cooperative Societies Rules, various steps were taken for the conduct of elections. A notice dated 28th December 1979 (Ext. P-1 in O.P. No. 3918 of 1980) was published by the Society under R.35(3)(a). The number of seats, the date of nomination, the date for withdrawal, the date of publication of the final list of candidates and the date of polling were all given in that notice. The Special Sale Officer III of the Office of the Assistant Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Kuthuparamba was appointed as the Returning Officer for the conduct of the elections. However, on the date of election, in the course of his journey to the polling booth, he was intercepted by an unruly mob near the Society's Office and the ballot papers and the election files with him were forcibly taken away. The Returning Officer immediately sent a report to the Deputy Registrar, detailing the 'unforeseen circumstances' under which the election could not be conducted. The Returning Officer passed proceedings dated 28th November 1980 (Ext. P-1 in O.P. No. 411 and Ext. P-2 in O.P. No. 3910 of 1980) stopping the elections, exercising his power conferred under R.35(3)(a). He also submitted a report on 28th January 1980 to the Deputy Registrar who considered the matter in detail and passed the proceedings dated 30th January 1980, appointing the Unit Inspector, Mattannur as Part-time Administrator of the Society for a period of three months or until the new Board was constituted whichever was earlier. In the mean time, the Board of the Society had met on 29th January 1980 and requested for an extension of their term, pointing out that such a course was permissible under R.39 of the rules. As is obvious from the proceedings dated 30th January 1980, this request of the Board was not acceded to by the Deputy Registrar.