The court established that applicants for cooperative society membership are deemed members if no action is taken within two months, and emphasized only the Chief Executive Officer can represent the society in legal matters.

ORDER :

Suraj Govindaraj, J.

1. The petitioner is before this Court seeking for the following reliefs:

I. Issue a writ in the nature of certiorari quashing the order dated 25/08/2025 bearing No. DR/GDG/Appeal-01/2025-26/546 passed by the 4^th respondent vide Annexure-D with respect to the petitioners in the interest of justice and equity.

II. Issue a writ in the nature of certiorari quashing the order dated 25/08/2025 bearing No. DR/GDG/Appeal-01/2025-26/543 passed by the 4^th respondent vide Annexure-D1 with respect to the petitioners in the interest of justice and equity.

III. Issue a writ in the nature of certiorari quashing the order dated 25/08/2025 bearing No. DR/GDG/Appeal-01/2025-26/547 passed by the 4^th respondent vide Annexure-D2 with respect to the petitioners in the interest of justice and equity IV. Issue such other writ or give such other direction and pass such other order as this Hon’ble Court deems fit and proper in the facts and circumstances of the cases.

2. Respondents No.5, 6 and 7 through their respective Chief Executive Officer have made an application to become a member of the Petitioner on 26.04.2024. No action has been taken on the said application. On 1.07.2024, the Petitioner had informed Respondent No.5 that the application has been rejected. Thereafter, Respondent No. 5 filed an appeal before Respondent No. 4, the Deputy Registrar of the Co-operative Societies [DRCS], which came to be allowed vide Order Dated 25.08.2025. It is challenging the same, the Petitioner is before this Court.

3. The submission of Sri.Jagdish Patil, learned counsel for the Petitioner is that

3.1. though the application for membership had been filed by the respective Chief Executive Officers, the appeal in respect of Respondent No.5 had been filed by its Chairman, Respondent No.6 by its Director, Respondent No.7 by Member, and in terms of Section 29G(4-J) it is only the Chief Executive Officer who can sue and be sued on behalf of the cooperative societies. As such, the appeal filed by the Chairman, Director and Member before the DRCS was not maintainable.

3.2. It is challenging the same, the petitioner had approached this Court by contending that the DRCS ought not to have exercised jurisdiction in the appeals since the appeals were not filed by proper persons and on that basis, the interim orders had been granted.

4. Notice having been issued, respondents have entered appearance. Vakalathnama on part of Respondent No.5, 6 and 7 has been filed by the Chief Executive Officer, which is taken on record.

5. The submission of Sri.Pranav U.Badagi the learned counsel for Respondents is that

5.1. In terms of Subsection (4) of Section 16 , if a co-operative society within two months from the date of the application for admission having been delivered, does not either admit or refuse to admit any such person as a member and send a written communication of such admission or refusal to the applicant before the period, then there is a deeming provision, deeming the admission of the applicant as a member of the co-operative society.

5.2. In the present case application having been filed on 26.04.2024, the period of two months expired on 25.06.2024 and as such, by midnight of 25.06.2024, Respondents No.5, 6 and 7 are deemed to be members of the petitioner-society. In that background, he submits that only a formal application was filed before the DRCS for issuance of membership certificate, etc., so that Respondents No. 5, 6 and 7 could exercise membership rights, which they could not, even though they are deemed to be members of Petitioner-Society without such certificates being issued. Hence, he submits that the order passed by the DRCS is proper and correct, taking