Important Point
Hearing is to be given only if a sanction for prosecution u/s 147(1)(c) of Guja­rat Cooperative Societies Act, 1961 is contemplated and not otherwise. Section 149(3) of the Act cannot be interpreted to mean that in respect of the offences for which the Registrar is the sanc­tioning Authority (e.g. offence u/s 147(1)(d) r/w Section 71), a prior hearing is required to be given.

Judgment

M.K. Mukherjee, J.-Leave granted.

2. The appellant No. 2, a District Co-operative Officer of Vadodara has lodged a prosecution against the two respondents under Section 147(1)(d) of the Gujarat Cooperative Societies Act, 1961 (‘Act’ for short) for committing breach of Section 71 of the Act after obtaining sanction of the District Registrar as required under Section 149(3) thereof. The prosecution is also for certain offences under the Indian Penal Code. Aggrieved thereby the respondents moved the High Court by filing a petition under Section 482 Cr.P.C. In disposing of the peti­tion the High Court observed that a sanction under Section 149(3) for prosecution under Section 147(1)(d) cannot be given without giving the party concerned a prior hearing. Since, admittedly, the respondents were not given such hearing, the High Court directed that the com­plaint relating to the above offence shall not proceed till notice to the respondents were given and sanction was accorded after hearing them. However, it clarified, the complaint for the remaining offences shall, in no way be affected by its order and shall be proceeded with in accordance with law. The direction of the High Court so far as it relates to the prosecution under the Act is under challenge in this appeal.

3. To appreciate the reasoning of the High Court for issuing the impugned direction it will be necessary to reproduce Section 149(3) of the Act. It reads as under:

“149 Cognizance of offences-

(1) x x x x x

(2) x x x x x

(3) No prosecution under this Act shall be lodged, except with the previous sanction of the State Government in the case of an of­fence under clause (c) of sub-section (1) of Section 147, and of the Registrar in the case of any other offence under this Act. Such sanc­tion  shall not be given, except after hearing the party concerned, by an officer authorised in this behalf by the State Government by a general or special order.”

From a plain reading of the first part of the above sub-section it is manifest that for lodging prosecution for an offence under the Act previous sanction is essential. While for the offence under Section 147(1)(c) the sanctioning authority is the State Government for all other offences it is the Registrar. When the words “such sanction shall not be given” appearing at the beginning of the second part is read in juxtaposition with the words “by an officer authorised in this behalf by the State Government by a general or special order” at the end, it is also manifest that hearing is to be given only if a sanc­tion for prosecution under Section 147(1)(c) is contemplated and not otherwise.

4. From the impugned order of the High Court we find that when the above contention was raised before it on behalf of the respondents therein (the appellants before us), the High Court observed that the words “such sanction shall not be given” are to be interpreted in the context of the provisions made for the sanction in connection with two different categories of offences and when so interpreted it would necessarily mean that sanction required to be given either by the Registrar or by the State must be preceded by a notice to and hearing of the parties concerned. The High Court, however, did not spell out, either in interpreting the section or issuing the impugned direction who was to give the notice and hear the parties in respect of the offences for which the Registrar is the sanctioning authority. If the legislature intended that in respect of the offences for which the sanctioning authority is the Registrar a prior hearing is also re­quired to be given by him then, after the words “by an officer autho­rised in this behalf by the State Government by a general or special order”, the words “or by the Registrar, as the case may be” (or simi­lar such words) would have been added. When there is no reference to the Registrar at all in the latter part of the section such sanction appearing therein must refer to a sanction which is