WAMANRAO S O ZOLBAJI SATPUTE Vs. COLLECTOR NAGPUR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) IN all these petitions since the prayer is for quashing and setting aside the supplementary voters lists at Annexure A to the respective petitions and since the petitioners are claiming restoration of their names in the voters lists as delegates of their respective societies to vote at an election of the Managing Committee of the respondent Nagpur District Central Co-operative Bank (hereinafter referred to as the Bank), they were heard together and are being disposed of by this common judgment.

(2.) ALL the petitioners are members of their respective Seva Sahakari Societies registered under the provisions of the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960 (hereinafter referred to as the Act) which are classified as Service Societies and the respondent Bank is the federal society of these societies. The societies of which the petitioners are delegates, are thus the member societies of the Federal Society-the respondent Bank. It is an undisputed fact in all these petitions that all the petitioners were chosen by their respective member societies as their respective delegates, duly authorized to vote at the election to the committee of the respondent Bank, which further undisputedly is a specified society, as contemplated by the provisions of section 73-G of the Act. Since elections to the Committee/board of Directors of the respondent Bank were to be held this year, provisional list of the voters was prepared by the respondent No. 1 Collector. Claims and objections to this provisional list of voters were invited and ultimately final list of voters was published by the respondent No. 1 on 18-9-1998. This final list of voters also included the petitioners names as voters being delegates of their respective member Societies. The petitioners claim that it is on the basis of this display of the final list of voters on 18-9-1998, respondent No. 1 Collector drew the election programme appointing the dates, etc. for various stages of the election for the Board of Directors to the respondent Bank. As per this election programme drawn on 6-11-1998 and displayed on notice board, the last date for making nominations was fixed as 5th of November 1998. Scrutiny of the nominations was to be held on 6-11-1998 and the date of voting is fixed as 11-12-1998.

(3.) THE elections to the committee of the respondent Bank are undisputedly governed by the Maharashtra Specified Co-operative Societies Elections to Committees Rules, 1971, (hereinafter referred to as the 1971 Rules ). The petitioners contend that having regard to the provisions of the 1971 Rules, no change in the final list of voters displayed on 18-9-1998 could have been effected by the respondent No. 1 Collector on or after 29th of October 1998 and such change, if at all was to be effected, could have been effected on or before 28th of October 1998, the last date for making nominations having been fixed by the election programme as 5th of November 1998. The petitioners have averred in the petition that the respondent Societies have not passed any resolutions between 18-9-1998 and 28-10-1998 changing their delegates nor even earlier any application for change was moved by any one including the member Societies of the concerned persons who now claim to be the delegates in place of the petitioners. The petitioners further contended that in fact the respondents member Societies had not passed any resolutions sending the concerned respondents who now claim to be the delegates in place of the petitioners as their delegates at any point of time. They further contended that surprisingly on 6-11-1998 they learnt that the respondent No. 1 on 2nd of November 1998 had published a supplementary voters list showing these respondents as delegates of their respective member Societies by deleting the names of the petitioners. The petitioners have specifically averred that no corrigendum or modification was published on 28-10-1998. The petitioners have further averred that the petitioners had submitted their nomination papers as representatives of their respective member societies on 5-11-1998, but their nominations were rejected because of the deletion of their names from the final list of voters and because of the substitution of the names of the concerned respondents in their places. Thus on coming to know that the respondent No. 1 published a supplementary voters list on 2-11-1998, deleting the petitioners names from the final voters list and substituting those by the names of the concerned respondents, the petitioners sought copy thereof which is annexed to each of the petition as Annexure A. The petitioners have submitted that this copy does not bear any date.