RAMKRISHNA GOVINDRAO DANDI Vs. THE STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The ten Petitioners claim to be the duly elected Directors of the Maharashtra State Handloom Cooperative Federation Limited ("MAHATEX"), of which the Managing Director is arrayed as the 3rd Respondent to this Petition brought under Article 226 of the Constitution of India. The Petitioners claim that they were elected as Directors at an election held on 31st March 2011 for a statutorily mandated five year term. They claim, however, that their five year term commences not from the date of the election, viz., 31st March 2011, but from the date when the Collector held the first meeting of the newly elected Directors on 16th January 2012. This meeting was called to elect the Chairman and Vice Chairman of MAHATEX. According to the Petitioners, they are entitled as a matter of law and as a matter of right to serve out an entire period of five years from 16th January 2012 to 16th January 2017. The Petitioners challenge a letter dated 31st March 2015 by which elections have been called in the year 2016.¹

(2.) The facts are few and not in dispute. On 16th March 2011, the Collector of Mumbai put a notice calling for elections to be held on 31st March 2011 for the Board of Directors of MAHATEX.² Elections were held on that date. By a letter dated 18th August 2011,³ the Collector intimated a list of the names of 16 persons elected as Directors to MAHATEX. These names were thereafter notified as required in law on 25th-31st August 2011 in the Maharashtra Government Gazette.⁴ The Petitioners state that thereafter the MAHATEX and the Petitioners by their various letters requested the Collector to call the first meeting of the newly elected Directors inter alia to conduct the elections of the Chairman and Vice Chairman of MAHATEX. It was not for a period of nine months thereafter till 2nd January 2012 that the Collector called the first meeting of the newly elected Board.⁵ On 16th January 2012, this meeting was held. A Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Board were duly elected on that date. It seems that thereafter the 4th Respondent, the Secretary of the Maharashtra State Cooperative Election Committee, by his letter dated 5th August 2014 asked for information regarding the Board of Directors of MAHATEX. Thereafter, by its letter dated 31st March 2015, MAHATEX informed the 4th Respondent-Election Authority that it proposed to hold elections in 2016 to the MAHATEX Board of Directors.⁶ The Petitioners are aggrieved by this. They protested by their Advocate's letter dated 24th July 2015.⁷ It is this notice calling for elections in 2015 that is impugned in the present Writ Petition.

(3.) We have heard Mr. Sabban for the Petitioners and Mr. Vagyani for Respondent Nos. 1 and 2 and considered the material on record. Mr. Sabban's submission is that under Section 73G of the Maharashtra Cooperative Societies Act, 1960 as it stood prior to its amendment by Maharashtra Act 16 of 2013, dated 13th August 2013, with effect from 14th February 2013 ("the 2013 Amendment"), the Committee's term of office was statutorily defined as being for five years "from the date on which the first meeting is held". The relevant portion of Section 73G of the Act prior to the 2013 amendment reads: