GOPAKUMAR Vs. JOINT REGISTRAR OF CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETIES

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Petitioners are elected members as well as nominated members of the Board of Directors of the Urban Cooperative Bank, namely, Puthuppally Adhyapaka Urban Cooperative Bank Limited. They approached this Court challenging orders passed by the Joint Registrar (Kottayam) produced as Exts.P16 and P17. By Ext.P16 order, it was found that four out of nine members of the Board of Directors ceased to be the members of the Society and therefore, they were disqualified to continue as members of the Board of Directors. Consequently, on finding that there were no sufficient number of members to constitute the quorum to conduct the meeting of the Committee, the Joint Registrar appointed an Administrator to discharge the functions of the Board vide Ext.P17 order.

(2.) The Second respondent Society is an Urban Cooperative Bank as defined under Section 2(ta) of the Kerala Co-operative Societies Act, 1969 (for short, the 'Act') . They have the licence to do banking business obtained from the Reserve Bank of India. Based on the bye-laws, there are four categories of members. The first category consists of employees working under the Government and aided educational institutions residing within the area of operation of the Society. The second category comprises of the persons who are residing within the area of operation, such as self employed persons working in the private institutions. The third category includes institutional members. The fourth category represents nominal members. These nominal members are depositors or debtors to the bank by pledging insurance policies and securities. They do not have voting rights.

(3.) The brief facts involved in this case are as follows:- The election to the Board of Directors was held on 01.08.2014. As per the bye-laws, there should be 13 members to the Board of Directors, out of which nine are to be elected. Out of nine elected members, four were found disqualified they are namely Sri.K.A.Raju, Sri.Babukutty Punnoose, Smt.P.S.Jayalakshmi and Smt.Mariyamma Oommen. As far as K.A.Raju and Babukutty Punnoose are concerned the reason for disqualification is that they had retired from service much before the date of election. In respect of Jayalakshmi and Mariyamma Oommen, it was found that they ceased to become members after the election since they retired in the year, 2016. It is to be noted that under Section 28(5) of the Act, the quorum for a meeting of a Committee shall be such number of members just above 50% of the total number of members of that Committee. Therefore, atleast seven members must be available to constitute the quorum.