Special Report under Section 81(5B) and order directing Section 88 inquiry are preliminary administrative steps, not orders/decisions affecting rights, hence not amenable to revision under Section 154.

JUDGMENT :

AMIT BORKAR, J.

1. By the present writ petition, the petitioner challenges the order dated 17 December 2025 passed by the Hon’ble Minister for Cooperation, Government of Maharashtra, in Revision Application No. 629 of 2024, purportedly in exercise of powers under Section 154 of the Maharashtra Cooperative Societies Act, 1960. By the said order, the revisional authority allowed the revision application and set aside the order dated 12 September 2024 passed by the Additional Registrar, whereby an inquiry under Section 88 of the Act had been directed. The revisional authority further annulled the Special Report dated 14 August 2024 submitted by the Statutory Auditor. The petitioner asserts that the impugned order is illegal and without jurisdiction, inasmuch as it brings to a halt a statutory inquiry concerning serious allegations of financial irregularities and misappropriation attributed to respondent Nos. 6 to 18.

2. The material facts, in brief, are that respondent Nos. 6 to 18, during their tenure as members of the managing committee of the petitioner society, are alleged to have committed several unauthorized and unlawful acts. These transactions were reflected in the balance sheets placed before the General Body and were approved, either expressly or by necessary implication. Subsequently, upon certain irregularities coming to light, the General Body, in the election conducted in June 2023, voted respondent Nos. 6 to 18 out of the management of the society.

3. It is the case of the petitioner that in the General Body Meeting held on 13 September 2023, a resolution was passed directing initiation of an inquiry into specified transactions undertaken by respondent Nos. 6 to 18. Pursuant thereto, the Board of Directors appointed Shri Bandu Kashid, Advocate, as Inquiry Officer. The Inquiry Officer submitted his report dated 25 July 2024, recording findings that respondent Nos. 6 to 18 had caused financial loss to the society by acts amounting to cheating and misappropriation. The petitioner places reliance upon the said report. The observation in the impugned order that the Inquiry Officer was himself a defaulter of the society is specifically disputed on the ground that it is unsupported by any material on record. It is further contended that the Statutory Auditor, while auditing the accounts of the society for the financial years 2022 to 2023 and 2023 to 2024, made specific remarks regarding irregular and unauthorized transactions. In exercise of powers under Section 81(5B) of the Act, the Statutory Auditor submitted a Special Report dated 14 August 2024 to the competent authority. Though reference was made therein to the findings of Shri Bandu Kashid and Chartered Accountant Mr. Metangle, the report is stated to have been founded upon the auditor’s independent scrutiny of the records. The Special Report also placed reliance upon valuation reports prepared by Government registered value