STATE OF JHARKHAND Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Heard Mr. Rajiv Ranjan, learned Advocate General appearing for the petitioner, Mr. Anil Kumar, learned ASGI, Mr. S.P. Roy, Learned G.A.- Bihar, Mr. Ajit Kumar Sinha, learned senior counsel for the newly added respondent no. 7, Mr. Ashit Kumar, learned counsel appearing for the respondent no. 5, Mr. Manoj Tandon, learned counsel appearing for the respondent no. 6 and Mr. Ajit Kumar, learned senior counsel for the newly added respondent no. 8.

(2.) In this writ application, the petitioner has made the following prayers:

(3.) The factual aspects of the case reveal that Bihar State Cooperative Marketing Union Limited (hereinafter referred to as BISCOMAUN for the sake of brevity), came into existence in the year 1958. The erstwhile State of Bihar had 99.26% shares in BISCOMAUN, and the remaining 0.74% shares were held by the Member, Cooperative Societies. By virtue of the Bihar Reorganization Act, 2000 the successor States were carved out from the erstwhile State of Bihar with effect from 15/11/2000. BISCOMAUN was working within the erstwhile State of Bihar and even after the reorganization of the State, the area of operation of BISCOMAUN continued in both successor States. It has been stated that BISCOMAUN was registered under Sec. 11 of the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act, 2002 (hereinafter referred to as the Cooperative Societies Act, 2002) and Certificate of Registration was issued on 1/8/2014 being Registration No. MSCS/CR/1074/2014. It is further mentioned that the area of operation of the society will be confined to the State of Bihar and Jharkhand. The total number of societies with BISCOMAUN is 270, out of which 82 no. of societies are from the different districts of the State of Jharkhand. The Bye-laws of BISCOMAUN was amended in consonance with the provisions of the Cooperative Societies Act, 2002 and the amendment was approved by the Government of India, Ministry of Cooperation by virtue of a certificate of registration of amendment issued on 2/2/2024. It has been stated that a perusal of the same would indicate that the area of operation of BISCOMAUN is entrenched in the State of Bihar as well as in the State of Jharkhand. Reference has been made to Rule 27 of the Bye-laws which provides for constitution of the Board of Directors of BISCOMAUN which shall have 21 members, out of which 17 members of the Board shall be elected members and the remaining 4 will be the nominees. One of the nominee shall be the Registrar, Cooperative Society, Jharkhand or his nominee. It has further been stated that the petitioner no. 2, vide letter as contained in Memo No. 271(6)/Ranchi dated 06- 02-2025 addressed to the Administrator, BISCOMAUN informed that in terms of Rule 27(VI) of the By-laws of BISCOMAUN, Shri Afren George Kujur, Deputy Registrar, Cooperative Society, Jharkhand, Ranchi is nominated as a member of the Board of Directors of BISCOMAUN. The respondent no. 3 vide letter dtd. 21/2/2025 accepted that the nomination made by the State of Jharkhand was within Sec. 48(1)(a) of the Cooperative Societies Act, 2002 as the Government of Jharkhand had equity shares. It has also been accepted that the membership of the Board has attained the strength of 21 comprising of 3 nominations by the State of Bihar, 1 nomination by the State of Jharkhand and 17 elected members. The voter list of the members who would participate and cast their votes in the election of office bearers of BISCOMAUN, was issued vide Memo No. 515 dtd. 21/2/2025. The name of the nominee of the State of Jharkhand is reflected in Sl. No. 21 of the list of members. The scheduled date of election was 28/2/2025. The election programme was re-scheduled and revised election programme was issued on 4/3/2025 by the respondent no. 03. The State of Bihar, Department of Cooperative Societies, issued a notification as contained in Memo No. 3066 dtd. 3/4/2025, wherein it has been mentioned that the State of Jharkhand has no share capital in BISCOMAUN. In the letter dtd. 5/5/2025, mention has been made of the letter dated 22-04-20224, wherein the respondent no. 03 had requested the Returning Officer, BISCOMAUN to seek comments of the Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Government of Jharkhand by giving a 07 days' time period on the Government of Bihar's Notification No. 3066 dtd. 3/4/2025. It also appears that comments of the Returning Officer, BISCOMAUN were also sought for to determine inclusion/exclusion of representative (nominee director) under Sec. 48(1)(a) of the Cooperative Societies Act, 2002 and Rule 19(N) of the Multi-State Cooperative Society Rules for nomination of Registrar, Cooperative Societies, Government of Jharkhand on the Board of BISCOMAUN along with participation to cast votes in the election of office bearers.