ANANT SINGH Vs. REGISTRAR CO OP SOCIETIES BHOPAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By this Order M. P. No. 1575 of 1984 Pritamsing v. Shri Kunjbihari Lal Guru and others is also disposed of. In the first petition the election of Shri Dharamchand Jain and Shri Kunjbihari Lal Guru as Directors of the District Co-operative Central Bank Ltd. is under challenge and also rejection of the nomination paper of petitioner No. 2 Hanuman Prasad Pathak for election as Director while in the second petition eligibility of Kunjbihari Lal Guru as President of the said Bank is under challenge.

(2.) The District Co-operative Central Bank Ltd. is a Central Co-operative Society as defined by S.2 (c-1) of the M. P. Co-operative Societies Act, 1960. Several primary cooperative societies in the Damoh district are the members of the Bank. There are resource Societies of different categories which form group "". There are Marketing societies which form group "" and there are also one group of other societies which form group "". There are 7 blocks in the Bank and from each block 2 directors from Resource Societies are elected i.e. from group "". In all 2 Directors are elected from group and one Director from group "". The President of the District Cooperative Land Development Bank Ltd. is the ex-officio Director of the Bank. There are other ex-officio Directors, namely, Collector or his nominee, Deputy Director of Agriculture, Assistant Registrar, Co-operative Societies and the Managing Director or the Manager of the Bank, Shri R. K. Dube, Sub-Divisional officer, was appointed the Returning Officer by the Collector for holding election of the Directors. The election was held on 4-6-1984. Petitioner 1 Anantsingh and respondents 8 and 9 Seth Dharmachand Jain and Shri K. B. L Guru were elected. The result was declared on 5-61984. Petitioner 2 Hanuman Prasad Pathak contested but his nomination paper was rejected as he was found to be a defaulter. M. P. 1492/84 has been filed by these two petitioners on 11-6-1984 and the declaration of result of the election of President and Vice-President was stayed by this Court on the same day. However, it appears that elections were held on 13-6-1984 but in view of the stay order declaration of the result was withheld. These two petitioners have challenged, the nomination of Shri Dalchand Rai on the ground that he represented the Large Scale Cooperative Society, Ghatera Banwar in Jabera Block, 92 members of that society were in arrears and Rs. 67,660.75 p. was also outstanding against the Society for more than 12 months and, as such, the Society or its representatives are disqualified under S.50-A of the Act. The President of the District Cooperative Land Development Bank, Damoh, is also an ex officio Director of the Bank. Since the Board of Directors of the Development Bank stands superseded under S.53 of the Act and the Registrar has appointed persons to manage the affairs of the Society, Shri Gopaldas Choudhary was appointed President of the Committee. However, only the duly elected President of the Land Development Bank can become ex officio Director and, as such, Shri Choudhary could not have cast his vote in the election of the Director nor he is entitled to participate in the election of the President and Vice-President of the Bank. Petitioner 2 was a representative of the Large Scale Co-operative Marketing Society, Bansatarkheda and he had filed his nomination paper for being elected as one of the Directors of the Bank. His nomination paper was rejected by the Returning Officer on 28-5-1984 on the ground that he was indebted to Damoh Marketing Society and was disqualified under S.50-A although he had not taken any loan but made certain purchases and the amount outstanding was paid on 28-5-1984 itself. Since his nomination paper has been rejected, Shri Dharmchand Jain and Shri K. B. L Guru have been declared elected as Directors unopposed from that Block. The petitioners therefore, challenged the election of Dalchand Rai, rejection of nomination of Hanuman Prasad Pathak and consequently election of Seth Dharamchand Jain and Shri K. B. L. Guru, and the competency of Shri Choudhary to participate in the election as ex officio Director of the Land Development Bank. M. P. No. 1575 of 1984 has been filed by Pritamsingh who is one of the contestants for the post of presidentship of the Bank, he is one of the elected Directors of the Bank as per result declared on 5-6-1984. There were, four contestants for the post of President including the respondent Shri K. B. L. Guru. The contest was between the petitioner and Shri Guru as the other two contestants had withdrawn but the result was not declared in view of the stay granted in the other petition. Shri Guru was twice elected as President of the Bank, the first term being from 1971 to 1974 and the second term from 1974 to 1977 and, as such, he is not entitled to hold the office or get re-elected for more than 2 consecutive terms or for a continuous term of 7 years whichever is less till a period equal to one full term has expired under S.48-A (4) of the Act. The tenure of the Directors elected to the Bank is 3 years from the date of their election and an objection was filed before the Returning Officer that he is disqualified from being re-elected as President but the objection was not considered by the Returning Officer and he was permitted to contest the election. Since the elected body of the Bank was superseded by the State Government and was being managed by a body nominated by the Government, the period during which the nominated body functioned has to be overlooked in considering the period of one full term and it has to be held that the term of the President to be elected is in continuation of the last term and, therefore, the petitioner claimed that the nomination of Shri Guru be declared invalid and the petitioner being the only contestant, he be declared to be duly elected President of the Bank. This petition was filed on 19-6-1984.

(3.) One set of return has been filed by the respondents 1 to 3, another set by respondents 5 and 7 and the third set by respondents 8 and 9 while respondents 4, 6 and 10 have filed separate returns. It appears that the respondent No. 11 has not filed his return though he was subsequently joined as a party. More or less their submissions are similar. In M. P. No. 1575/84 separate returns have been filed by each of the three respondents and their pleas are also similar. In both the petitions there is a preliminary objection that there is an alternative remedy under S.64 of the Act by raising a dispute before the Registrar or his nominee regarding the election. On merits, it is contended that Dalchand Rai has been validly elected, he is not a defaulter. Dalchand Rai was a representative of the Large Scale Co-operative Society and the name of the Society was not included in the voters' list. The Society represented before the Returning Officer that it has taken proceedings under Ss.84 and 85 of the Act against its defaulting members and so the Society is not a defaulter in view of second proviso to R.45 (3) and, therefore, the name of the society was included in the list. The certificate which has been issued by the Manager of the Bank showing the society to be a defaulter was unauthorised and he wrongly showed the society to be a defaulter. Shri Gopaldas Choudhary was the ex officio Director of the Development Bank and was entitled to participate in the election and though he was present during the election, he voluntarily did not cast his vote as he was advised not to do so as per instructions from the Registrar. So this question is not of any relevance. Petitioner No. 2 Hanuman Prasad Pathak was a defaulter. Certificate of default was produced before the Returning officer at the time of scrutiny which took place at about 9 a.m.. Nobody appeared on behalf of petitioner No. 2 to show that he was not a defaulter. In fact, the dues were paid by Shri Pathak at about 12.30 p.m. after his nomination paper was already rejected. Being a defaulter, his nomination has been rightly rejected under S.30-A. Seth Dharamchand Jain and K. B. L Guru were declared unopposed as Directors from Jabera Block. In the second petition, it is contended that Shri Guru did not complete two terms as elected President because his second term was terminated by Government order dt. 26-11-1977 with effect from 28-11 1977, so he having not completed two full terms, he was entitled to stand for re-election for the post of President Besides, as the elected body of the Bank was superseded and a nominated body functioned since Nov. 1977 till the date of election, a full term of 3 years has already lapsed and there is no impediment for Shri Guru to contest the re-election for the post of President. Besides, the provisions of S.48-A and S.49 remained stayed by virtue of the order of the State Government under S.91 of the Act in respect of several societies including the Bank since 1977 (January) to December 1983. Bar of S.48-A (4) was not applicable to the Bank.