The election process for cooperative societies, once commenced, cannot be halted based on conflicting government orders; elections must proceed from the stage they were interrupted.

ORDER :

M. Nagaprasanna, J.

The petitioners, in W.P.Nos.103589 of 2024 and 103590 of 2024 call in question calendar of events so issued on 20-06-2024 by the 5^th respondent and seek a consequential direction by issuance of a writ in the nature of mandamus to hold elections strictly in consonance with the Government Order dated 05-06-2024 and corrigendum to the said order dated 13-06-2024 and a further mandamus is sought to direct the 5^th respondent not to permit casting of any vote and contest the voters in the societies that are the subject matter of the petitions.

W.P.No.106546 of 2024 is filed seeking to quash the Government Order dated 05-06-2024 and the corrigendum to the said order dated 13-06-2024 and also seeking a mandamus to direct the 2^nd and 3^rd respondents to conduct elections to the 5^th respondent Union from the stage it was stopped.

2. Heard Sri Jayakumar S. Patil, learned senior counsel appearing for the petitioner in W.P.No.103589 of 2024, Sri M R Rajagopal, learned counsel appearing for petitioners in W.P.Nos.103590 of 2024 and 106546 of 2024; Sri J.M. Gangadhar, Additional Advocate General for respondents 1, 4, 5 and 7 in W.P.No.103589 of 2024 and respondents 1, 4, 5 and R8 in W.P.No.103590 of 2024 and respondent No.1 in W.P.No.106546 of 2024; Sri G.V. Bharamagoudar, learned counsel appearing for respondents 2 and 3 in all the petitions, Sri Harish S. Maigur, learned counsel appearing for respondent No.6 in W.P.Nos.103589 and 103590 of 2024 and respondent No.5 in W.P.No.106546 of 2024; and Sri M.B. Hiremath and Sri Prabhuling Navadagi, learned senior counsel appearing for respondents 8 to 11 in w.P.No.103589 of 2024 and respondents 9 to 14 in W.P.No.103590 of 2024.

3. Before embarking upon consideration of cases at hand, I deem it appropriate to notice the protagonists in these petitions. In Writ Petition No.103589 of 2024 and Writ Petition No.106546 of 2024 petitioners are Karur Milk Producers Cooperative Society Limited, Karur and Nandhi Bevuru Milk Producers Cooperative Society Limited, Nandhi Bevuru respectively. Petitioner in Writ Petition No.103590 of 2024 is a private individual. The respondents are the State of Karnataka and officers of the Department of Co- operation. The 5^th respondent in W.P.Nos.103589 and 103590 of 2024 and 4^th respondent in W.P.No.106546 of 2024 are common, the Returning Officer/ Assistant Commissioner, Ballary District. There are other private respondents whose description would not be required to be specifically noticed.

4. Facts, in brief, adumbrated are as follows:

On 24-04-1976, it appears, the Society in W.P.No.103589 of 2024 comes into existence. The 6^th respondent, the Raichur Bellary Koppal and Vijayanagar District Milk Producers Cooperative Societies Union Limited was renamed as the 6^th respondent after the newly formed District of Vijayanagar. Pursuant to the order of the 4^th respondent/Joint Registrar of Cooperative Societies dated 09-11-2022, the bye-laws of the 6^th respondent newly named Society were amended under Section 12(2) of the Karnataka Cooperative Societies Act , 1959 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Act’ for short). Despite the 6^th respondent being a federal Society, the number of Directors remained as 12 and the averment in the petitions is that it was in violation of Section 28A of the Act which mandates that for a federal society the number of Directors should be 21. A notice is issued on 16-09-2023 in terms of