RAGHAVA KURUP Vs. JOINT REGISTRAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner was a candidate for election to the (managing) committee of the second respondent Bank, which is a Cooperative Society deemed to be registered under the Kerala Cooperative Societies Act, 1969 (the Act). The election was slated to be held on June 11, 1988. The petitioner had been a member of the committee of the Bank for three terms consecutively, and it was for the fourth time that he submitted his nomination for the election to be held on June 11, 1988. The third respondent returning officer rejected the nomination; but the petitioner was not informed the reason for the rejection. The petitioner sought information about the reason by his petition Ext. P2 submitted to the returning officer; to which the latter sent reply Ext. P3, stating that there was no provision in the Cooperative Societies Rules (the Rules) requiring the reason for rejection of the nomination to be furnished to the candidate.

(2.) The petitioner had an apprehension that his nomination had been arbitrarily and unreasonably rejected, a view in which he was fortified by the evasive reply Ext. P3. He filed this Original Petition seeking to quash the rejection of his nomination. The respondents appeared, and as the parties desired an authoritative decision on the point involved, the petition was beard on merits, despite the fact that the matter was only at the stage of acceptance of nominations. The third respondent, the Returning Officer, filed a counter affidavit stating that the petitioner's nomination was rejected under bye law 34 of the bye laws of the Bank, under which no member could continue to be a member of the committee for more than three terms consecutively except with the special sanction of the Deputy Registrar. No such sanction bad been obtained by the petitioner. The petitioner was therefore disqualified from contesting for the fourth term consecutively.

(3.) The Bank in question bad been constituted in the year 1956 at a time when the Travancore - Cochin Cooperative Societies Act, 1951 (Act X of 1952) was in force. The petitioner was one of the founder members of the Bank, which had, over the years, grown into a big institution with over 5400 members. Petitioner's membership number is 2 which evidences bis seniority, and connection with the Bank right from its beginning. The petitioner bad been a member of the committee for three consecutive terms and bad also been its President.