1. Rule with the consent of the learned counsel for the parties made returnable forthwith and heard.

2. The writ jurisdiction of this Court is invoked against the order dated 6/6/2015 bearing outward No.3199 of 2015 passed by the Respondent No.2 i.e. the District Co-operative Election Office and Divisional Joint Registrar, Co-operative Societies, Mumbai by which order the Petitioner Bank has been communicated that the change of delegate sought by it cannot be acceded to as the change has not been sought within the time stipulated in rule 10(4) of the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Election to Committee Rules, 2013 (for short “the said Rules”). The Petitioner has also sought a direction to the Respondent No.2 to accept the nomination of the present chairman of the Petitioner-Bank as a delegate of the Petitioner-Bank. The controversy in the above Petition is therefore as regards the nomination of the delegate of the Petitioner Bank to participate in the elections to the Board of Directors of the Respondent No.3 herein which is a federation of the Urban Co-operative Banks.

3. The facts giving rise to the filing of the above Petition in a nutshell can be stated thus:

The Respondent No.3 as indicated above is a federation of the Urban Co-operative Banks and the various Urban Co-operative Banks in the State of Maharashtra are the members of the Respondent No.3 federation which can be said to be an Apex Body. The elections to the Respondent No.3 federation were announced and the election programme came to be issued on 8/5/2015. In terms of the said election programme the nomination forms were to be available between 8/5/2015 and 12/5/2015. The nominations were to be filed between the same period. The scrutiny of the nominations was to take place on 13/5/2015. The date of withdrawal of nominations was 14/5/2015 and the list of validly nominated candidates was to be published on 29/5/2015 and the elections were to take place on 12/6/2015. The above Petition had come up for admission before this Court on 11/6/2015 on which day this Court after issuing notice had stayed the elections only in so far as Kolhapur, Sangli and Satara constituency is concerned.

4. The elections to the Respondent No.3 federation as also the other specified societies are governed by the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Election to Committee Rules, 2013. In the context of the present controversy rule 10(4) of the said Rules is material, the same is reproduced herein under:

“Rule 10. Particulars to be included in the provisional list of voters for the societies having society or society and individuals as members:

(1) ...........

(2) ..........

(3) ..........

(4) A society which has communicated the name of its representative shall, by like resolution, be permitted to change the name of its delegate only in case of death of the representative or where there is newly elected committee of the member society not later than five days before the last date for making nominations.”

Hence the delegate of a society can be changed in two eventualities mentioned in rule 10(4) viz in case of death of the representative or in the event there is a newly elected managing committee of the member society which committee resolves to change the delegate. The said rule 10(4) postulates that the said change can be effected not later than five days before the last date for making nominations. A reference to the said rule 10(4) in the context of its interpretation would be made in the later part of this judgment.

5. In so far as the Petitioner Bank is concerned, it had nominated the Respondent No.4 herein to be its delegate by the Resolution dated 27/2/2015 passed in the meeting of its then Board of Directors. The Respondent No.4 was nominated as at the said time he was the director of the Petitioner Bank. It is common ground that it is only the Directors who represent the member bank in the Respondent No.2 federation so that the member bank can participate in the affairs of the