High Court
Case Details
WP(C) 1439/2004 BEFORE HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE T. VAIPHEI Both Mr. N.C. Das, learned Sr. Counsel assisted by Ms. C. Sarma, learned counsel for the petitioner and Ms. B. Dutta, learned State Counsel have been heard at l ength.
Legal Reasoning
Though the pleadings and the reliefs claimed are many, the learned Sr. C ounsel for the petitioner, in the course of hearing of the writ petition, decide d to confine himself to the question of referring the case for the decision of t he State Government on the basis of the Audit Report as well as the impugned ord er. The writ petition is directed against the order dated 10/2/2004 issued by th e Additional Deputy Commissioner, Dhemaji, holding the petitioner personally lia ble to pay a kist money amounting to Rs. 1,42,973/-. The petitioner, who, at the relevant time, was serving as the Junior Inspector of Co-operative Societies at Dhemaji. In compliance with the directions of the Apex Court contained in the o rder dated 17-3-1999 in SLP Nos. 13742-13843/1997, the State-respondents in the Fishery Department issued the office order dated 23-11-2000 bifurcating No. 1 Ko hra Fishery of Dhemaji District into 2 parts, namely, No. 1 Kohra Fishery Part-I and Kohra Fishery Part-II whereafter Kohra Fishery Part-I came to be settled wi th M/s Kohra Fishery Samabay Samity Ltd. for a period of 5 years with effect fro m 23-11-2000 while M/s Parghat Kaibarta Min Shilpa Samabai Samity Ltd. was settl ed with Kohra Fishery Part-II for the same period. Both of them were accordingly handed over possession of the two fisheries. As some gross irregularities were were alleged to have been found in holding the Annual General Meeting of M/s Par ghat Koibarta Min Silpa Samabai Samity Ltd. held on 27/1/2001, the Zonal Joint R egistrar of Co-operative Societies, Tezpur Zone, by his order dated 4/8/2001, se t aside the approval by the Assistant Registrar of Co-operative Societies, North Lakhimpur, to the aforesaid proceedings and thereafter, in exercise of powers c onferred upon him under section 32(5) of the Assam Co-operative Societies Act, 1 949, dissolved the Managing Committee of M/s Parghat Kaibarta Min Silpa Samabai Samity Ltd. It is the further case of the petitioner that he was subsequently appointed as a one man adhoc Committee of the said Society to manage and look after the affair s of the Society till a new body was elected or formed. Following his appointmen t, he was directed to hold the Annual General Meeting of the Society for electin g a new Managing Committee of the Society within 90 days from the aforesaid orde r. Pursuant to the said order, the petitioner took over the charge of the Office r of the Society on 10/8/2001 and was managing the affairs of the Society since then. According to the petitioner, a discussion was held on 9/9/2001 with regard to the management of No. 1 Kohra Fishery Part-II with the financier and as per the minutes of discussion, the fishery in question was to be operated for the ye ar 2001 by the financier headed by Shri Monoranjan Saikia and the party headed b y Shri Dulen Chamuah in alternate year and the revenue in respect of the aforesa id fishery was required to be paid by the respective management and the petition er, as a one man Adhoc Committee of the Society, was to allow the party to opera te the fishery with effect from 10/9/2001. In the meantime, one Sri Dip Kumar Da s, the Chairman of the Society and three others preferred an appeal before the R egistrar of Cooperative Societies, Assam, against the order dated 4/8/2001 passe d by the Zonal Joint Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Tezpur Zone, appointing the petitioner as a one-man adhoc committee of the said Society. While admittin g the appeal on 4-8-2001, the Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Assam, stayed the operation of the said order dated 4-8-2001. It is also the case of the petitioner that on the authority given to him in term s of his appointment as a one man adhoc committee, he had allowed the said Dip K umar Das to carry on the fishing work and to collect and deposit the Government revenue and the said Authority was given with effect from 2/12/2001 to 31/3/2002 . Similarly, he had permitted Sri Mitharam Das and Sri Monoranjan Saikia to oper ate the fishery in question settled with the Society and to collect and deposit the Government revenue. Despite notices issued by the Office of the Deputy Commi ssioner, Dhemaji, from time to time, the said Society defaulted in depositing th e Government revenue amounting to Rs. 1,07,230/- for the year 2001-2002, which p rompted the State-respondens in the Fishery Department to pass the settlement or der dated 31-5-2002 settling Kohra Fishery Part-II with M/s Kohra Fishery Samaba i Samity Ltd. for a period of three years with effect from 31-5-2002 to 30-5-200 5 after cancelling the settlement order dated 23-11-2001 issued in favour of M/s Parghat Kaibarta Min Silpa Samabai Samity Ltd. In the meantime, the Sr. Auditor namely Sri Mohendra Nath Sarma, had submitted h is audit report on 20/3/2003 in respect of M/s Parghat Kaibarta Min Silpa Samaba i Samity Ltd. indicating therein that the Managing Committee of the aforesaid so ciety headed by the said Dip Kumar Das as the Chairman and Sri Mitharam Das as t he Secretary had operated the fishery in question settled with the Society for 1 56 days and accordingly the Society was liable for depositing an amount of Rs. 6 1,106.26 towards Government revenue. In the same report, it was also mentioned t hat the petitioner himself was liable to pay revenue for 209 days amounting to R s. 81,866.74 making a total of Rs. 1,42,973/- towards Government revenue. Accord ing to the petitioner, contrary to the said audit report, the Additional Deputy Commissioner, Dhemaji, issued the impugned order holding the petitioner liable t o pay the outstanding kist money amounting to Rs. 1,42,973/-. According to the p etitioner, as the findings of the Additional Deputy Commissioner, Dhemaji, in th e impugned order holding him liable to pay Rs. 1,42,973/- is at variance with th e audit report which limited the liability of the petitioner only to the extent of Rs. 81,866.74, such findings cannot be sustained in law. In other words, the petitioner has seriously questioned the legality of the findings of the Addition al Deputy Commissioner, Dhemaji in that behalf. In fairness, the learned Sr. Cou nsel for the petitioner has, however, submitted that this issue can best be sort ed out by the State respondents and this Court may pass appropriate order(s) alo ng the line of submissions advanced by him. The learned State counsel also has n o objection to relegating the matter for the decision of the State Government in accordance with law. In the light of the submissions made by the learned counsel appearing for the ri val parties, this writ petition is now disposed of by directing the Commissioner and Secretary to the Government of Assam, Fishery Department, Dispur, Guwahati, to consider the case of the petitioner on the basis of the findings made by the audit report and thereafter take appropriate decision in accordance with law wi thin a period of one month from the date of this order. Needless to say, the pet itioner should be personally heard by the Commissioner/Secretary to the Governme nt of Assam in the Cooperative Societies Department.