JUDGMENT:

Lokeshwar Singh Panta, J.

Civil Appeal No.6069/2005, Civil Appeal No.6077/2005 and SLP (Crl.) No.2071/2006 are taken on board.

A Bench of two judges before which this batch of twelve civil appeals and five special leave petitions came up for consideration was of the view that looking to the issues involved and the far-reaching consequences which such a decision will leave, these matters require consideration by a larger Bench. This is what the Bench observed in the order dated 1st December, 2005.

"This batch of appeals/SLPs involved an important issue regarding right of recovery of debts by the co-operative banks constituted under the Co-operative Societies Acts of the States of Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. The issue has arisen in the context of enactment of the Recovery of Debts Due to Banks and Financial Institutions Act, 1993. Under the Co-operative Societies Acts, there is a mechanism for recovery of debts by the Banks constituted under those Acts, which are also called Co-operative Banks. After the enactment of the 1993 Act, question arose as to whether such Co-operative Banks would have right of recovery under the respective Co-operatives Societies Acts or they will have to proceed under the 1993 Act. These aspects and some other issues, including the issue of legislative competence of the States to enact the provisions relating to Co-operative Banks, came up for consideration before the Bombay High Court and the High Court of

Andhra Pradesh at Hyderabad. Both the High Courts have pronounced judgments on the issues and these judgments are under appeal in these cases. Looking to the issues involved and the far-reaching consequences which such a decision will leave, we are of the view that these matters be decided by a larger Bench.

This has also been brought to our notice that as a consequence of the impugned judgments of the two High Courts, recoveries worth thousands of crores of rupees are held up and for that reason these matters need to be decided as early as possible.

Let these matters be placed before Honble the Chief Justice of India for constitution of an appropriate larger Bench for early disposal of these cases.

We are informed that so far as the batch of appeals/SLPs arising from the judgment of the Bombay High Court is concerned, the stay applications have already been disposed of. The stay applications in the appeals/SLPs arising from the judgment of the Andhra Pradesh High Court are yet to be finally disposed of. Let the stay applications in the matters arising from the judgment of the Andhra Pradesh High Court be placed before this Court on Wednesday the 7th December, 2005. If any party is desirous of filing any reply, the same be filed by Monday the 5th December, 2005.

SLP (C) Nos. ...CC 9992-9993/2005, SLP (C) Nos.21685-21701/2005 and SLP(C) No. 22621/

2005

Delay condoned.

Issue notice.

Dasti service, in addition to usual mode of service, is also permitted."

Honble the Chief Justice of India, accordingly, has assigned these matters for hearing by a Bench of three Judges dealing with the subject matters of applicability of the Recovery of Debts due to Banks and Financial Institutions Act, 1993 [ for short "the RDB Act"] to the co-operative banks established under the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960 [for short "the MCS Act, 1960"]; The Multi-State Co-operative Societies Act, 2002 [for short "the MSCS Act, 2002"]; and the Andhra Pradesh Co-operative Societies Act, 1964 [for short "the APCS Act, 1964"].

The background of facts, which led to the filing of these cases, are noted from Civil Appeal No. 432 of 2004 titled The Greater Bombay Co-operative Bank Limited v. M/s United Yarn Tex Private Limited and Others filed against the judgments and orders of the Full Bench of the High Court of Judicature at Bombay and Civil Appeal No. 36 of 2006 titled A.P. State Co-operative Bank v. Samudra Shrimp Ltd. & Ors. decided by the Full Bench of the High Court of Judicature of Andhra Pradesh at