BABURAO SATGONDA PATIL Vs. COLLECTOR OF BOMBAY AND RETURNING OFFICER MAHARASHTRA STATE CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETIES

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These two petitions raise an interesting point with regard to the refection by the Returning Officer to open as many as 56 ballot papers in Writ Petition No. 2797 of 1979 and 240 ballot papers in Writ Petition No. 2819 of 1979. The Returning Officer was concerned with the holding of elections to the Specified Society, being the Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank Ltd., to elect its committee. An election to elect its committee is to be conducted by the Collector, as is provided by Section 73-G of the Maharashtra State Cooperative Societies Act. 1960. The First Petition i. e. Writ Petition No. 2797 of 1979, concerns with the election with regard to the Urban Bank Constituency which was required to elect four mem-bers from four divisions, while the other petition is concerned with the individual member from the Constituency which returns one member on the committee.

(2.) The Collector of Bombay, who is the Collector to hold the elections under Section 73-G of the Maharashtra State Co-operative Societies Act, 1960 programmed the election and fixed the date of poll as November 10. 1978 in which the ballot papers were received by post. It is common ground that 56 ballot papers in costal packets in the Urban Bank Constituency and 240 ballot papers in similar manner from individual members of the constituency were received by the Returning Officer, but he did not open the packets, nor did he examine the ballot papers but treated all those ballot papers as reiected on the ground that the attestation on the outer envelopes was not made either by the Stipendiary Magistrate or by a Gazetted Officer of the District, as is provided for by the Election Rules for the purpose of electing a member to the House of the People or to the Legislative Assembly of the State. The reason that prevailed, as appears from the record, with the Returning Officer was that the Special Executive Magistrates were neither the Stipendiary Magistrates nor the Gazetted Officers of the Districts. In this manner, keeping away the 56 ballot papers in Writ Petition No. 2797 of 1979 and 240 ballot papers in another Writ Petition, he proceeded to declare the results.

(3.) It is not necessary to refer to that declaration in detail. Suffice it to say that the petitioner in each of these cases, being aggrieved, preferred to file an Election Petition before the Commissioner of Bombay Division, Bombay, the authority under the Rules who determines the election disputes. The Election Petition lies under Section 144-T of the Maharashtra State Co-operative Societies Act, 1960 on the grounds as are provided for in Rule 81 of the Rules called the Maharashtra Specified Co-operative Societies Election to Committees Rules 1971. On the pleadings of the parties in both these petitions, several issues were raised, one of the issues being with regard to the non-scrutiny of the postal ballot papers on the ground that the attestation was by the Special Executive Magistrate. The Election Commissioner eventually has dismissed the election petitions. That dismissal of the election petitions by the impugned orders is the subject-matter of challenge in these two Writ Petitions.