Manjit Singh & Ors. v. Joint Registrar, Cooperative Societies, Ferozepur & Ors.

Present: Mr. Balwinder Singh Sehra, Advocate for the petitioners. Mr. J.S. Puri, Additional Advocate General, Punjab for respondents No.1 to 3. Mr. Harit Sharma, Advocate for respondent No.4. KANWALJIT SINGH AHLUWALIA, J. (ORAL) Present writ petition has been preferred by members of the Committee of Kot Sadar Khan Cooperative Agricultural Service Society Ltd., Kot Sadar Khan, Tehsil and District Moga ((hereinafter referred to as, ‘the Managing Committee’). It is stated that an election was held and members were elected on 7th October, 2005 for a period of five years and the term of the Managing Committee is to expire in the month of October,

2010. By filing present writ petition, the members, who were duly elected to the Managing Committee, seek quashing of the impugned order dated 20th March, 2008 (Annexure P-4), whereby the Assistant Registrar, Cooperative Societies, Moga, exercising the powers of Registrar, Cooperative Societies, Punjab, removed the Managing Committee of the Civil Writ Petition No.13914 of 2009 2 Society under Section 27(1) of the Punjab Cooperative Societies Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as, ‘the Act’) and appointed the Kot Mohd. Khan, Inspector, Cooperative Societies as Administrator of the Society. It is urged in the writ petition that the order (Annexure P-4) is bad in the eyes of law and is sought to be quashed, as no mandatory notice, as envisaged under Section 27(1) of the Act, was served upon the petitioners before passing the order (Annexure P-4). To appreciate the arguments, it will be necessary to notice the brief facts of the case. The Managing Committee had appointed one Gurpreet Singh as a Salesman. This fact came to the notice of Assistant Registrar, Cooperative Societies, Moga and he deputed the Inspector BajeKe to submit a report. On the basis of the report submitted by the Inspector, a show-cause-notice (Annexure P-1) was issued on 25th January, 2008, wherein it was stated that the Inspector had recommended initiation of action against the Managing Committee, as he had found the following three violations on the part of the Managing Committee: “(1) The managing committee of the society had appointed a Salesman on 27.04.2007, who had not fulfilled requisite qualification according to Service Rules. (2) Neither the newly appointed Salesman in the society is having the charge of fertilizer nor he had signed on the sale/stock register in the record, which proves that there is no work with the Salesman and he has paid additional salary, which is totally wrong and loss has been caused to the society. Civil Writ Petition No.13914 of 2009 3 (3) The recovery of the society is bad. Neither any action has been taken by the managing committee nor any sale case or attachment case has been made by the managing committee for recovery.” The Managing Committee filed its response/reply (Annexure P-2) to the show-cause-notice (Annexure P-1) on 8th February, 2008, wherein it stated that applications were invited and Gurpreet Singh was the sole applicant, therefore, he was appointed as he fulfilled the requisite qualification. The Assistant Registrar, Cooperative Societies, Moga, vide order dated 18th February, 2008 (Annexure P-3), satisfied with the reply furnished by the Managing Committee, withdrew the orders issued under Section 27 of the Act. However, after a period of one month and three days, the order (Annexure P-4) was passed, whereby the Managing Committee was removed. Aggrieved against the same, the Managing Committee filed an appeal. The same was decided by the Deputy Registrar, Cooperative Societies, Moga vide order (Annexure P-5). A perusal of the order passed by the appellate authority reveals that the Managing Committee was suspended on 25th January, 2008 and on 18th February, 2008 the same was reinstated. A contention was also noticed that from 18th February, 2008 to 19th March, 2008 nothing was done by the Managing Committee and on the same charges, for which the Managing Committee was absolved and reinstated, it was subsequently again removed. However, the appellate authority held the order (Annexure P-4) to be in consonance with the provisions of law. The members of the Managing Committee filed a revision petition. The Revisional authority held that the members of the Managing Civil Writ Petition No.13914 of 2009 4 Committee of the Society had paid Rs.7,290/- as salary to the Salesman without any work, therefore, removal of the Managing Committee was upheld. It is a case of the parties that in view of the order passed by this Court on 7th September, 2009, no fresh election has taken place and the Administrator is managing the affairs of the Society. In the written statement filed, the allegation of malafide that the members of the Managing Committee belong to the opposition party in the State, have been denied. However, it has been stated that once the Managing Committee was reinstated there was no need to issue any fresh notice, because the earlier show-cause-notice continued to operate. I have heard counsel for the parties. I find merit in the contention advanced by counsel for the petitioners that once, vide order (Annexure P-3), the Managing Committee was reinstated, it amounted to absolving the Managing Committee of the charges. Therefore, by passing the order (Annexure P-4), the Assistant Registrar, Cooperative Societies cannot review his own order. In case the department was aggrieved against the order (Annexure P-3), the remedy with it was to file an appeal. Mr. Harit Sharma, Advocate appearing for the respondent- Society, has stated that the order (Annexure P-4) cannot be considered as an order of review, because the Inspector had submitted a fresh report. If this argument is taken into consideration, then it was mandatory for the concerned authority to issue fresh show-cause-notice, so that the Managing Committee could put forward its defence. Considering from all counts, the order (Annexure P-4) cannot be sustained. Civil Writ Petition No.13914 of 2009 5 Thus, the present writ petition is allowed, order (Annexure P-4) is quashed and the Managing Committee is hereby reinstated. July 2, 2010 [KANWALJIT SINGH AHLUWALIA] JUDGE