SATISH MOHINDROO Vs. ASSISTANT REGISTRAR CO OP SOC

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Vide this judgment, five writ petitions (CWP No. 483, 3325 to 3327 and 3710 of 1988) are being disposed of together, as some of the facts involved therein are common and others are similar ; the question of law arising being common to all of them.

(2.) The Pathankot Hindu Co-operative Urban Bank Ltd., Pathankot(hereinafter called the Bank) is a Co-operative Society registered under the Punjab Co-operative Societies Act. The area of operation of the Bank is within the municipal limits of Pathankot City. The election of the members of the Board of Directors of the Bank was due, as the term of existing Directors was to expire in August, 1987. The Board of Directors passed Resolution Nos. 3 and 9 on March 23, 1987, preparing draft election programme, and dividing the operational area into seven aones wherefrom seven members of the Board of Directors were required to be elected. The draft election programme was sent to the Assistant Registrar who was exercising powers of the Registrar under the Act, for approval, On April 10, 1987, the election programme was approved. Thereafter on July 13, 1987, the election programme was notided. Annexure P1 is the election programme which was notified. August 9, 1987, was the date fixed for submitting nomination papers, scrutiny, withdrawal, and August 16, 1987 was the date fixed for election, if any. Satish Mohindroo, petitioner No. 1, along with two others namely Ram Narain and Ram Dass, filed nomination papers from Zone No. 1. The nomination paper of Ram Narain was rejected whereas Ram Dass withdrew. Only petitioner No. 1, Satish Mohindroo, remained in the field to be elected unopposed. From Zone No. 2, petitioner No. 2 Roshan Lal Khosla filed the nomination. The other candidate was Chiranji Lal. Election was held. Roshan Lal Khosla secured 165 votes and Chiranji Lal 127. Roshan Lal Khosla was elected. From Zone No. 3, petitioner No. 3 Ramesh Kumar Sharma filed the nomination along with two others, namely, Sarv Parkash and Prem Kumar. Both of them withdrew, leaving Ramesh Kumar Sharma in the field to be elected as unopposed. From Zone No. 4, petitioner No. 4 Vinod Kumar filed the nomination along with Bishambar Dass. Since Bishambar Dass withdrew, Vinod Kumar remained in the field to be elected unopposed. From Zone No. 5, petitioner No. 5, Parshotam Arora filed the nomination along with two others namely Kamlesh Chander and Sai Dass. Out of them, Sai Dass withdrew. There was a contest between the two others. Parshotam Arora secured 322 votes while Kamlesh Chander had 181 votes. Thus. Parshotam Arora was declared elected. From Zone No. 6, petitioner No. 6, Kewal Krishan, contested the election along with two others namely Jatin Sharma and Jag Bahadur. They secured votes 134, 99 and 50, respectively. Thus, Kewal Krishan was declared elected. From Zone No. 7, Cbander Parkash Jandial, petitioner No. 7, filed nomination, along with four others. While Nek Ram Saini and Khazan Chand withdrew, the nomination papers of Janak Ram Saini and Ourdeep Singh were rejected. Thus, unopposed, Chander Parkash Jandial, petitioner, was declared elected. The final result was declared on August 17/18, 1987. Annexure P2 is the result.

(3.) Election disputes were raised under Section 55 of the Punjab Co-operative Societies Act, 1961 (hereinafter called the Act) for setting aside the election of the Board of Directors, Annexure P3 is the copy of the election petition relating to Zone No. 5. Annexure P4 also relates to election from Zone No. 6. These election disputes were before the Assistant Registrar, Co-operative Societies, Gurdaspur who passed stay orders on August 17, 1987. Copies of these stay orders are Annexures P5 and P6 which are to the following effect :