MALKIYAT SINGH Vs. CANE COMMISSIONER UTTAR PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) TWO questions "involved in this writ petition and which are required to be decided by this; court are; (i) When does the term of Committee of Management, of a co-operative society, constituted under U. P. Co-operative Societies Act, 1965 )hereinafter referred to as the Act) commences and (ii) Whether the Committee of Management is entitled to extension of its term by the period during which it could not function on account of stay orders passed by the courts. On the answer to the aforesaid questions depends the fate of the order dated January 10, 1991, appointing the Administrator under section 29 (4) of the Act for the U. P. Cooperative Cane Union Federation Limited (hereinafter referred to as the Federation), which has been impugned iin this writ petition and of other relief claimed in connection therewith.

(2.) BOTH the parties have exchanged affidavits and we have heard learned counsel for the parties

(3.) ELECTION of the members of the; Committee of Management of Cooperative Societies, other than those societies which have been notified under proviso to sub-section (3) of section 29, is required to be held by virtue of the provisions of sub-section (3) of section 29 at Annual General Meeting as provided in section 32. So far as the notified societies are concerned their superintendence, direction, control and conduct of the elections of the members and Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Committee of Management, have been vested in the Registrar and their election can be held otherwise than in any meeting notwithstanding anything contained in Clause (b) of section 32. Chapter XXIX of the Rules, which consists of several parts, lays down rules of election in co-operative societies; part-I of which containing Rules 402 to 406 deals with the post registration meeting and elections Part II containing Rules 407 to 438 provides for election rules in respect of the societies other than those notified under proviso to sub-section (3) of Section 29 of the Act,. Part III consisting of Rules 439 to 444-D provides for election rules in respect of those societies which have been notified under proviso to sub-section (3) of section 29. Part V commencing from Rule 445 to 452 deals with terms of the Committee of Management and other matters connected therewith. Rule 445 (as it was before its amendment in 1985) laid down that except as otherwise provided in Rules 406, 433 and 435 term of Committee of Management of a co-operative society shall be three co-operative years. Co-operative year was defined by section 2 (i) as the year commencing on 1st day of July and ending on 30th day of June next following. Explanation-1 to old Rule 445 laid down that for the purposes of determination of the term of the Committee of Management, the co-operative year during which the election is held, shall be counted as full year irrespective of the period left after such election in that co-operative Year. Rule 445 has been amended in 1985 and after the amendment the term of the Committee of Management of the co-operative society has been specified to be three years. But when term of three years will commence has not been laid down by the Act and Rules. A Division Bench of this Court in the case of Mohd. Shamim Ansari v. State of U. P., 1989 (1) UP LB EC 269, relying on Rules 406 and 445, has laid down that the term of the Committee of Management of a cooperative society will commence only after its due constitution in the first Annual General Meeting and not from any earlier date when members were elected Relevant extract from this judgment is reproduced below : "How the term of three years has to be calculated from the date the members are elected or any other date, ELECTION by itself does not result in constitution of Committee of Management. Rule 406 which is relevant for this purpose may be extracted below ; "406 The provisional Committee of Management constituted under Clause (iii) of Rule 404 and the Chairman and the Vice Chairman elected under sub-rule (iv) of that rule shall hold office till the Committee of Management is duly constituted in the first annual general meeting and the Chairman and Vice-Chairman are duly elected respectively." The language of the rule makes it abundantly clear that the Committee is duly constituted in the first annual general meeting in which Vice-Chairman and Chairman are elected. Since in an apex society the annual general meeting can be called by the Managing Director, who is a nominated member, the Committee is duly constituted only after the first meeting has been called by him after Lis nomination. The Committee was thus duly constituted in November, 1985 and not in August, 1985, when the petitioner was elected. The term of the Committee of Management being three years from its due constitution it could expire in November, 1988." Rule 406, however, may not be of much (help to those co-operative societies which have been notified by the State 'Government under the proviso to sub-section (3) of section 29. For such notified societies, as has been mentioned in the said proviso itself the election of the Committee of Management need not necessarily be held in Annual General Meeting as, the same can be held otherwise than in any meeting notwithstanding anything contained in Clause (b) of section 32. If the Committee of Management has not been elected and constituted in the Annual General Meeting the principle contained in Rule 406 may not apply. When the law neither specifies a particular date from which the term of a Committee would begin nor does it mention any date on which its term will come to an end, the term will commence from the date the Committee takes over charge and starts functioning. The Cane Commissioner/Registrar Cane Co-operative Societies, U. P. has also circulated a letter dated July 7, 1989 mentioning therein that after amendment of Rule 445 term of three years of Managing Committee will commence from the date of its taking over charge. A copy of this letter has been filed as annexure-17 to the writ petition. The Act and Rules not having specified the date from which the term of the Committee of Management of the notified societies is to commence, it is open to the Registrar to specify such a date in order to avoid uncertainty in the working of the management of the Co-operative societies. The above order of the Registrar is not contrary to or inconsistent with the Act and the Rules. Counting the period of three years from the date of taking over charge by the new Committee, is quite fair and reasonable. The position would be different if the statute has specified a particular date from which the period of any body or a right will commence. In this connection reference may be made to a Division Bench decision of Orissa High Court, in the case of Board of Management, Nayagarh Co-operative Land Development Bank Ltd. v. Deputy Registrar, Co-operative Societies, AIR 1983, Ori. 105 Relevant extract from this judgment is reproduced below : "There may be instances where the right would be up to a particular date; instance, a lease would be for a term of 5 years beginning from one date and ending with another, when the term expires, the lessee's rights automatically terminate. The fact that there had been injunction for a period during the term would not bring about an extension. Take also, for instance, the case of an elected Member to the legislature If on account of an election dispute, he be restrained from functioning, that does not entitle him to an additional period over and above the term of the legislature to which he is elected. With the lapse of time, the House dissolves and that dissolution brings about an end to membership "