RATAN N TATA Vs. CAPT S B MATHUR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Captain S. B. Mathur, the first opposite party in the writ application, was employed as the Chief Pilot Instructor of the Jamshedpur Co -operative Flying Club, of which petitioner No. 1 is the President and Petitioner No. 2 is the Secretary. According to the petitioners' case, Captain S. B. Mathur was found guilty of certain charges and was dismissed by an order of the Managing Committee, dated the 16th of October, 1967. Captain Mathur made an application to the Registrar, Co -operative Societies, Bihar, the second opposite party in the writ application, praying to him to set aside the order of dismissal on the grounds mentioned in his petition. A rejoinder was filed on behalf of the petitioners and, inter alia, a point was taken that the Registrar had no jurisdiction to entertain and decide the dispute of the nature of disciplinary action taken by the Managing Committee against its paid servant. The Registrar Registered the dispute as Dispute No. 37A of 1967 and gave a preliminary hearing to the parties on the point of his jurisdiction to decide this dispute. By order dated the 27th of November, 1967, he held that Rule 15 of the Bihar & Orissa Co -operative Societies Rules, 1959 (hereinafter called the Rules) and Section 66 of the Bihar & Orissa Cooperative Societies Act, 1935 (hereinafter referred to as the Act) read with Rule 33 of the Rules conferred the necessary powers on the Registrar to entertain the application filed by the said opposite party No. 1, before him. The objection of the petitioners was, therefore, rejected.

(2.) The petitioners in the first instance filed the Civil revision application (Civil Revision No. 1356 of 1967) on the 8th December, 1967, in which a rule was issued on the 11th December, 1967. In the order issuing the rule, a doubt was expressed as to whether the Registrar, on the facts of this case, was purporting to act as Court within the meaning of Section 115 of the Code of Civil Procedure. To obviate the doubt, and as a matter of precaution, the petitioners moved this Court and obtained a rule under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India and this application came to be registered as civil writ jurisdiction case. Both the applications have been heard together and since the effective order is going to be made in the writ jurisdiction case, we allow the prayer of the petitioners for permission to withdraw the Civil revision application which will stand dismissed as withdrawn.

(3.) It is neither advisable nor necessary to enter into the merits of the order of dismissal passed by the Managing Committee against opposite party No. 1. The only question which falls for determination in this case is whether the Registrar has power or jurisdiction to entertain the application filed by opposite party No. 1 and to set aside the order of the Managing Committee of the Jamshedpur Co -operative Flying Club Ltd., if otherwise the order is lit to be quashed.