Courts must interpret legal fictions strictly, ensuring they do not exceed the legislative intent or conflict with existing statutory frameworks, particularly in cases of state reorganization.

JUDGMENT :

ALOK ARADHE, J.

1. These batch of appeals raise an important question regarding legal status of two Sugarcane Cooperative Societies on bifurcation of erstwhile State of Uttar Pradesh and interplay between Uttar Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2000 (Reorganisation Act) and Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act, 2002 (2002 Act). The core issue is whether Sugarcane Growers Cooperative Societies, Bajpur and Gadarpur, situated in Udham Singh Nagar, District of Uttarakhand could be treated as Multi-State Cooperative Societies by operation of Section 103 of 2002 Act, despite their prior reorganisation and confinement of their area of operations to a single State, under the statutory framework governing State reorganisation.

2. For the facility of reference, facts from C.A. No. 8743 of 2013 are being referred to. Sugarcane Growers Cooperative Society, Bajpur (Society) is a Sugarcane Growers Cooperative Society whose area of operation originally included 96 villages in Bajpur and 34 villages in Suar, District Rampur in the erstwhile State of Uttar Pradesh. The Society was registered under the U.P. Cooperative Societies Act, 1965 (1965 Act). The Registrar, Cane Cooperative Societies, Uttar Pradesh, on 10.07.1998 passed an order superseding the managing committee of the society. The District Cane Officer, Udham Singh Nagar assumed the charge of the society, as its administrator.

3. The Parliament enacted the Reorganisation Act, by which the State of Uttaranchal (‘now Uttarakhand’) was created with effect from 09.11.2000. On reorganisation of the State of Uttar Pradesh, 34 Revenue Villages, including village Suar, fell into the territory of the successor State of Uttar Pradesh and the villages of Tehsil Bajpur fell into the successor State of Uttaranchal. Thus, the area of operation of society spanned over the two states, namely State of U.P. and State of Uttarakhand.

4. A meeting between the officers of State of U.P. and Officers of State of Uttaranchal was convened on 08.02.2001, in which it was decided that in respect of the societies which have assumed the status of a multi-state cooperative society, a meeting of General Body shall be convened for reconstitution of such societies and with consent of both the States, the proposal shall be sent for their reorganization to the Central Registrar, Multi-State Cooperative Societies. Accordingly, a meeting of the General Body of the Society was convened on 03.04.2001 in which unanimously a resolution for reorganisation of the Society was passed. The Cane Commissioner/Registrar Cooperative Societies, Uttar Pradesh on 03.11.2001 made appropriate amendments in bye-law no. 3 of the Society.

5. The Deputy Cane Commissioner, Moradabad by an order dated 14.05.2002 directed deletion of names of 34 villages including the village Suar in District Rampur, from the area of operation of the society and ordered inclusion of the said villages in Sugarcane Cooperative Society Ltd. Suar, District Rampur, U.P. Consequently, the area of the operation of the society was curtailed and restricted to the areas which fell in the Territory of State of Uttaranchal.

6. The respondent No. 1’s name, who is a cane grower of village, Suar, was not included in the list of members of the soc