Andhra Pradesh High Court
Judges : S.B.SINHA, S.R.NAYAK
Gandham Venkata Swami Naidu - Appellant
Versus
DDEPUTY REGISTRAR OF CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETIES, BHIMAVARAM, WEST GODAVARI DISTRICT - Respondent
Decided On : 03-08-01
Constitution of India, 1950 - Articles 243 and 40 - Andhra Pradesh Cooperative Societies Act, 1964 - Sections 131, 32, 21, 9, 51 and 4 - Co-operative Societies - Order of disqualification - On ground that he used fabricated documents and also fraudulently withdrew an amount of society - Though an appeal in seemed to have been filed by petitioner before cooperative Tribunal refused to suspend said order - Hence order passed by 1st respondent is in force as on to-day - It also came to light of this Court that just one day prior to replacement of petitioners as persons committee 1st respondent passed an order on basis of a statutory enquiry conducted under of Act - Questioning same 1st petitioner filed in same Cooperative Tribunal and obtained stay of said order on which was made absolute - As order of surcharge stands suspended same shall not be treated as disqualification for contesting elections - Held, In considered opinion of this court is required to be given - It is now well known that all statutes have to be read having regard to purpose and object thereto - If necessary in order to uphold constitutionality of Government Order same must be read down - Main purpose of issuing aforementioned government Order as already been noticed hereinbefore is to bring about comprehensive reforms in Co-operative law - Having regard thereto we are of opinion that it was never intention of State to postpone election for a long time - But such directions issued in government Order must be confined only to those societies which would come directly within purview of Act - Thus by reason thereof it cannot be said that State has intended to impose a total ban on elections to be held to all societies throughout entire State - Government Order must therefore be held to be applicable to such of those societies in relation where to registrar is of opinion that it is not possible to call for a general meeting - In instant case it has been found that there was no such prohibition and general meeting of society has been held as a result whereof order of this court could be given effect to without any demur whatsoever by State or registrar of Co-operative Societies - It is therefore not for appellants or writ petitioners herein to say that no election could be held despite order of this court - Writ Petition are disposed of.
( 1 ) THE Writ Appeal and the Writ Petition being inter-related were taken up for hearing together and are being disposed of by this common judgment.
( 2 ) WRIT Appeal No. 1530 of 2000 arises out of a Judgment and Order dated 11-7-2000 passed by a learned Single Judge in W. P. No. 27153 of 1996 whereby and whereunder the writ petition was disposed of with the following directions:"at this fag end of the term, I am not inclined to put them back in the office and the ends of justice will be served by directing the respondents to conduct elections as expeditiously as possible at any rate within 3 months without reference to any decision taken up by the Government for postponing the elections to the co-operative society under the pretext of weeding out the bogus members from the societies as the Society is under the management of a special officer for a considerable time and the will of the majority people in the governance of the affairs of the society is not reflected. During the course of hearing, it came to light that the 1st respondent in his proceedings in r. O. C. NO. 127/96. B dated 1-2-1996 passed an order of disqualification of the petitioner under Sec. 21-AA (1) (b) of the Act on the ground that he used fabricated documents and also fraudulently withdrew an amount of rs. 1,00,000/- (Rs. One lakh only) from the society on 20-12-1994. Though an appeal in O. S. No. 16 of 1996 seemed to have been filed by the petitioner before the Andhra Pradesh cooperative Tribunal, Vijayawada, the tribunal refused to suspend the said order. Hence, the order passed by the 1st respondent is in force as on to-day. The ends of justice will be met by directing the Tribunal to dispose of the appeal as expeditiously as possible at any rate within three months from the date of receipt of a copy of this order as this appeal being a very old one. It also came to the light of this Court that just one day prior to replacement of the petitioners as persons committee, ie on 16-11-1996, the 1st respondent passed an order on the basis of a statutory enquiry conducted under Sections 9 and 51 of the Act. Questioning the same, the 1st petitioner filed O. A. No. 342 of 1996 in the same Cooperative Tribunal and obtained stay of the said order on 16-11-1996 which was made absolute on 24-11-1998. As the order of the surcharge stands suspended, the same shall not be treated as disqualification for contesting the elections".
( 3 ) W. P. NO. 27153 of 1996 out of which the present appeal arises was filed by the president and five others of Rayakuduru large Sized Co-operative Society, rayakuduru village, Veeravasaram mandal, West Godavari District questioning the action of the respondents in appointing an official as person-in-charge of the society.
( 4 ) THE petitioner in W. P. No. 22927 of 2000 who was a member of the society filed the writ petition inter alia on the ground that there existed an order of the Government directing not to hold elections being g. O. Ms. No. 172, Agriculture and cooperation dated 24-7-2000 and the following relief was sought for:"it is, therefore, necessary in the interests of justice that the Hon ble court is pleased to issue Writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ, order or direction declaring the action of the 2nd respondent in seeking to conducting the elections to the 3rd respondent as illegal, arbitrary, contrary to G. O. Ms. No. 172, agriculture and Cooperation dated 7-11-2000 etc. and grant such other relief of reliefs as this Hon ble Court may deem fit and proper in the circumstances of the case. "
( 5 ) THE directions issued by the government in G. O. Ms. No. 172 dated 24-7-2000 are in the following terms:"the elections to the various agricultural credit and marketing cooperative societies were held in July, 1995. According to the provisions of "the Andhra Pradesh Co-operative societies Act, 1964, the tenure of the elected committee is for a period of 5 years and now elections are due to be held in th
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