SHIV LAL Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner was the President of Baldi Co- operative Agricultural Service Society, Baldi (hereinafter referred to as the 'Society') during the years 1967 and 1968. On July 1, 1962, he withdrew a sum of Rs. 17,000/- from the Central Co-operative Bank Limited, Karnal on behalf of the Society for disbursement of the amount as loans to various members of the Society. He was also having a cash balance of Rs. 232.67 with him by that time. According to the case of the Society, petitioner advanced loans to the tune of Rs. 12,600/- to 28 members of the society and retained a balance of Rs. 4632.67 with him. It is also the case of the Society that the petitioner deposited a sum of Rs. 2,650/- on various dates in instalments. Thus a sum of Rs. 1982.66 still remained with the petitioner. A dispute has been raised by the Society for the recovery of the balance amount of Rs. 1982.66 from the petitioner. Inspector Co-operative Societies, Karnal, was appointed as Arbitrator. After enquiring into the case, the Arbitrator vide his award dated 8.9.1969 directed the petitioner to pay a sum of Rs. 2712.15 with interest on the principal amount of Rs. 1982.66 @ 9.37 per cent still the date of payment from the date of the award. The petitioner filed an appeal to the Assistant Registrar Co-operative Societies, Karnal, who dismissed the same vide his order dated 23.2.1970. A further appeal to the Joint Secretary to Government, Haryana, Co-operation (Appeals), Chandigarh was also dismissed on 16.8.1982. In this writ petition, the petitioner is seeking quashing of the orders passed by the authorities below against the petitioner.

(2.) The petitioner himself admitted in the writ petition that in the middle of year 1967 he was given a sum of Rs. 17,000/- by the Central Co- operative Bank Limited, Karnal for the purposes of advancing loans to various members of the respondent-Society and in addition to this amount a sum of Rs. 232.67. was also with him. But according to him, he advanced loans to 37 members to the tune of Rs. 14,550/- and he deposited a sum of Rs. 2,650/-. Thus according to him, a total sum of Rs. 17,200/- was accounted for and, therefore, nothing was due from him to the Bank. The petitioner placed reliance on Annexure P.1 to show that he distributed the sum of Rs. 14,550/- but there is no documentary proof that he advanced loans to all the members shown by him in Annexure P.1 filed alongwith this writ petition. It is only a statement prepared by the petitioner alone. As per record of the respondent- Society a sum of Rs. 12,600/- was distributed by the petitioner to the various members of the Society during the tenure of the petitioner as President of the Society. The authorities below had verified entries in the cash book and finally concluded on the basis of the material placed before them that the petitioner utilised a sum of Rs. 1982.66 for his personal use. The authorities below also relied on the statement of the petitioner dated 30th November, 1967 made before Shri D.R. Rathi, Assistant Registrar, Co-operative Society, Karnal wherein he admitted that a sum of Rs. 1972.86 was utilised by him for his personal purposes. The theory that he was made to give statement under the influence of alcohol did not find favour with the Joint Secretary to Government Haryana (Co-operation Appeals). This Court while exercising the extra-ordinary writ jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution cannot sit as an appellate Court over the orders passed by the competent authorities. On a careful persual of the record, I do not find any error or illegality in the orders passed by the authorities below. The writ petition is, therefore, devoid of any merit and is liable to be dismissed.