HARIPADA CHAKRABORTY Vs. STATE OF TRIPURA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Petitioners were elected members of the Board of Directors of the Tripura State Co-operative Bank Ltd., respondent No.4 herein. By the impugned notification dated 29/30.10.2018 issued by the Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Government of Tripura, the entire Managing Committee was superseded and instead Principal Secretary, Department of Co-operation was appointed as an Administrator to manage the affairs of the Bank.

(2.) Brief facts are as under:

(3.) This notification the petitioners have challenged on various grounds. However, the principal ground of challenge is that the mandatory requirement provided in Section 74 of the Tripura Co-operative Societies Act, 1974 was not followed before impugned notification was issued. The contention of the petitioners also is that the entire action of the Government was predetermined and prejudged. In this context, learned counsel for the petitioners pointed out that originally under sub-section (7) of Section 74 of the Co-operative Societies Act, any supersession of the committee could only be done without the prior approval of the Reserve Bank of India. The Government of Tripura promulgated an ordinance on 15.10.2018 substituting sub-section (7) of Section 74 of the Co-operative Societies Act as per which the supersession of the committee of a State Co-operative Bank could be done with prior consultation with the Reserve Bank of India. Thus, the earlier requirement of previous approval was toned down to the requirement of consultation with RBI. Immediately thereafter the action of supersession followed.