IMPORTANT POINT
The existence of a statutory remedy under the West Bengal Cooperative Societies Act, 2006 precludes the maintainability of a writ petition for management disputes in cooperative societies.

JUDGMENT :

Arijit Banerjee, J.

1. This appeal is directed against a judgment and order dated September 12, 2023, whereby a learned Judge of this Court dismissed the writ petition of the appellant herein being WPA 21336 of 2023.

2. The appellant/writ petitioner is a member of Saktinagar Samabaya Krishi Unnayan Samity Limited (in short ‘the Cooperative Society’). He approached the learned Single Judge with certain grievances regarding the management of the affairs of the cooperative society. In particular, his grievance was and is that the private respondent herein, Arup Sarkar, has been illegally working as Manager of the Cooperative Society and drawing huge salary every month. According to the appellant Arup attained the age of retirement in November 2022. Thereafter, the Cooperative Society could not have continued to employ him as Manager or in any other capacity. The appellant prayed for primarily the following orders before the learned Single Judge :-

“(b) Issue a Writ of or in the nature of Mandamus commanding the respondents to conduct an enquiry with regard to the date of birth of the private respondent forthwith and file a report regarding the same before this Hon’ble Court;

(c) Issue a Writ of or in the nature of Mandamus commanding the respondents to remove the private respondent from service at Saktinagar SKUS Ltd. forthwith, as he is illegally working in the said society under the post of Manager, without due process of law;

(d) Issue a Writ of or in the nature of Mandamus commanding the respondents to recover the amount of salary drawn by the private respondent while illegally working under the post of Manager at Saktinagar SKUS Ltd., post November 2022 till date;

(e) Issue a Writ of or in the nature of Mandamus commanding the respondents to stop payment of salary to the private respondent forthwith for illegally working under the post of Manager or in any capacity at Saktinagar SKUS Ltd.;”

3. The learned Single Judge dismissed the writ petition with the following observations:-

“It appears from the submissions made on behalf of all the parties and upon perusal of materials on record that the dispute sought to be raised by the petitioner in the instant writ petition relates to management of the affairs of the Co-operative Society.

There is provision under the West Bengal Cooperative Society Act, 2006 for raising such dispute before the appropriate form.

The Court is of the opinion that in the facts and circumstances of the instant case, the writ petition will not be maintainable.

The writ petition stands dismissed.

Dismissal of the writ petition will however, not stand in the way of the petitioner from approaching the appropriate forum, in accordance with law, if so advised.

In the event a dispute is raised before the competent authority, the same shall be decided on merits.”

4. Being aggrieved, the writ petitioner has come up by way of this appeal.

5. Appearing on behalf of the appellant, Mr. Milan Chandra Bhattacharya, learned Senior Advocate, submitted that election of the Cooperative Society has not been held after 2019. Successive Special Officers have been appointed to manage the affairs of the Society. The private respondent, Arup, is drawing a salary of approximately Rs. 2 lakh per month. He submitted that the Managing Committee of the society was dissolved on December 9, 2019. After that, The Manager of the Society namely Arup Sarker, took over charge as the Society’s “Highest Designated Employee” on and from 13.11.2019. Thereafter, one Sanjay Deb Nath was appointed as Special Officer with effect from November 16, 2021, by the Government. His tenure was terminated on September 22, 2022. Again, Arup Sarkar took over charge as the Society’s “Highest Designated Employee” with effect from September 22, 2022. In this connection learned Senior Counsel drew our attention to a document at page 18 of CAN 3 of 2024 which is described as “introductory statement, Year of Audit 2021-2022”.

6. Mr. Bhattacharya drew our attention to the