RAM BADAL VERMA Vs. STATE OF UTTARAKHAND

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Heard learned Counsel for the parties and perused the papers on record.

(2.) The matter pertains to the Kashipur Cooperative Cane Development and Sale Society (for short, the Society), which is governed by a board, but the board never came in existence ever since the inception of new State of Uttarakhand because the elections of its members could not be held till date. In that eventuality, overall administration of all the cane cooperative societies remained in the hands of Cane Commissioner. In the hierarchy, in descending order, next was Assistant Cane Commissioner, who was designated as District Cane Officer at the time of undivided state of Uttar Pradesh and used to run the administration of a particular society 2 of a place as of the society which is in controversy before this Court.

(3.) Mr. BN Mishra was the Assistant Cane Commissioner, who occupied his office for a good number of years up to January, 2010 and was succeeded by Ram Badal Verma (one of the petitioners) with effect from the beginning of February, 2010. Mr. Ashok Kumar Srivastava (AK Srivastava) was working as the Secretary of the Society for almost two decades at the same place Kashipur (now retired) and petitioners Krishan Lal and Manohar Dutt Upadhyay were the accountants at different times. Another petitioner AM Srivastava was the LIC agent hailing from Lucknow (UP), who somehow could be successful in motivating Mr. AK Srivastava (who also probably comes from Lucknow itself) for diversion of the funds of Society in the form of investments in the mutual funds of LIC. Mr. AK Srivastava, in turn, also successfully persuaded Mr. BN Mishra, the then Assistant Cane Commissioner, to invest the fund of the Society in the said scheme. Accordingly, a huge fund of the Society was invested, and a good chunk of that amount sometimes got invested in the personal name of Mr. AK Srivastava and even in the individual name of Mr. AM Srivastava, the LIC agent. Many a times, this amount came back to the Society and at certain other times, it was re-invested and one of the re-investment, to the tune of Rs. 23,16,000/-, was also made in the time of Ram Badal Verma in March, 2010.