KAMAL KRISHNA MUKHERJEE Vs. RAMPADA GHOSE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal against an order of the Additional Subordinate Judge of Burdwan affirming the order passed by the second munsif, Burdwan.

(2.) The question involved in this appeal is whether or not an award made pursuant to the provisions of the Bengal Co-operative Societies Act, 1940, was made without jurisdiction. The matter arises in this way: Towards the end of December, 1948, Ajhapur Union co-operative society was formed to function in three villages, namely, Nabagram, Maina and Masunda. The Appellant before us was the secretary of the said society. The object of the society inter alia was to supply commodities to the members in these villages. It is said that in January, 1949, the society intended to extend its area of operation to three other villages, namely, Sanchra, Mohanpur and Mirapara and, in fact, had been supplying to the people of those villages the commodities belonging to the society. Under Article 58 of the bye-laws of the society steps had to be taken before a society could extend its operation to villages other than those over which the said society was originally functioning. But no steps was taken by this society in accordance with the said provisions. Thereafter disputes arose between the society and the Appellant. The Appellant's case was that the sale proceeds of the cloths sold to the said villagers of Sanchra, Mohanpur and Mirapara were not entered as receipts in the cash book but kept with the secretary. The society claimed the sums which were received by him as alleged by the society. The total amount claimed by the society against the Appellant was a sum of Rs. 714-7-6 and it consisted of two different sums namely, Rs. 346-8-3 being the cash sale-proceeds of cloths sold to the villages Sanchra, Mohanpur and Rs. 367-15-3 being the cash amount alleged to have been received by the secretary in respect of other accounts. The Appellant disputed the claim of the society and his contention was that he was not liable for any of those sums. The said dispute between the society and the Appellant was thereupon referred to the Registrar for arbitration under the provisions of Section 86 of the Bengal Co-operative Societies Act. I shall deal with the material provisions of the said Act in greater details hereafter. The dispute between the parties before us centres round the construction and effect of the said provisions. The Registrar upon receipt of the said reference from the society appointed an inspector to decide the said disputes. This the Registrar was entitled to do under Section 87 of the said Act. The arbitrator made his award and under the said award the Appellant was required to pay a sum of Rs. 446-13-6 which was the difference between the sum of Rs. 714-7-8 claimed by the society and the sum belonging to the Appellant which was lying in deposit with the society. The Appellant being aggrieved by the said award preferred an appeal to the Registrar, but the said appeal was dismissed. Thereupon he made an application in accordance with the provisions of the said Act to the Government which was also refused. Thereafter the Respondent applied for execution of the said award. Objection was raised by the Appellant to the said execution and the main ground taken was that the award was made without jurisdiction. The learned munsif overruled the said objection. An appeal was preferred to the court of the Additional Subordinate Judge of Burdwan and the learned Subordinate Judge dismissed the said appeal and affirmed the decision of the munsif. Against the said order of the learned Subordinate Judge the present appeal has been preferred to this Court.

(3.) As I indicated before, the only ground taken before us by the Appellant was that the award was made without jurisdiction. Mr. Chakravarty appearing for the Appellant referred us to the various provisions of the Bengal Co-operative Societies Act in support of his said contention. In order to appreciate the contentions of Mr. Chakravarty it would be necessary to refer to the following provisions of the said Act. Section 86 of the Bengal Co-operative Societies Act reads as follows: