1. In view notice for final disposal, the learned counsel for the parties have been heard at length by issuing Rule and making the same returnable forthwith.

2. The question that arises for consideration in this Writ Petition is :

Whether the petitioner, by virtue of having let out premises jointly owned by him to the respondent no.4 – Co-operative Bank, can be said to be disqualified to hold the post of Director under the provisions of Section 73CA (1) (vi) of the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960 [for short, referred as “the said Act”] ?

The aforesaid question arises in view of the following facts:-

3. The petitioner has been elected as a member of the Managing Committee of the respondent no.4 – the Amravati District Central Co-operative Bank Ltd. It is the case of the respondent no.5 that on 6th March, 2010, the Managing Committee of the said Bank passed a resolution by which it was resolved to shift the Surji Branch of the Bank to Anjangaon. The Branch was shifted to a building owned by the petitioner and his brother at Anjangaon. According to the respondent no.5, the petitioner had participated in the said meeting wherein the resolution was passed and as the Branch was shifted in the building jointly owned by the petitioner, he stood disqualified under the provisions of Section 73CA (1) (vi) of the said Act. On that basis, the respondent no.5 on 28th July, 2014 filed an application before the Divisional Joint Registrar, Co-operative Societies, seeking disqualification of the petitioner.

4. The petitioner filed his reply and opposed the aforesaid application. It was his case that though the petitioner and his brother were co-owners of the property in question, by virtue of a partition between them, the ground floor of said premises stood in the name of his brother and it was he who had entered into the lease agreement with the Bank. The rent was being paid to the petitioner's brother and hence the petitioner could not be held to be so disqualified.

5. The District Deputy Registrar, Co-operative Societies, directed the authorized Enquiry Officer and Asstt. Registrar to submit a report in the matter. Such report came to be submitted on 13th February, 2015, observing that by passing a resolution for shifting of the branch, it could not be said that the petitioner had attracted disqualification under the provisions of Section 73CA (1) (vi) of the said Act. The Divisional Joint Registrar accepted the aforesaid report and by order dated 11th May, 2015, dismissed the application for disqualification.

6. The respondent no.5, being aggrieved, filed a Revision Petition under Section 154 of the said Act. The Hon'ble Minister for Cooperation, Marketing & Textiles, by order dated 20th October, 2015, came to the conclusion that as the petitioner had interest in the property in which the Branch of the Bank was shifted, he was liable to be disqualified from holding the post of Director. By the impugned order, the petitioner was held disqualified to continue as a Director of the Bank under the provisions of Section 73CA (1) (vi) of the said Act. As a consequence thereof, the Divisional Joint Registrar passed an order of disqualification dated 31st October, 2015. Being aggrieved, the aforesaid order is assailed in the present Writ Petition.

7. Shri N.A. Gaikwad, learned counsel for the petitioner, submitted that the petitioner has been wrongly disqualified by the impugned order. According to him, though the plot in question stood in the joint names of the petitioner and his brother, the lease agreement was with the petitioner's brother. The Asstt. Registrar in her report had rightly found that rent was being paid to the petitioner's brother and that the petitioner was not getting any benefit, whatsoever, by virtue of shifting of the said Branch to Anjangaon. He submitted that though all the necessary documents in that regard were placed on record, the same were not taken into consideration by the Hon'ble Minister. He referred t